


Counting the Days

by StormRoad



Series: Counting the days [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book 1: The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson), F/M, Romance, goddess!Annabeth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:27:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25312309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StormRoad/pseuds/StormRoad
Summary: Annabeth is bored, being a goddess, watching mortals go thorugh so much change over hundreds of years while Olympus always stays static is maddening! So, when a son of Poesidon appears on a feild trip to the Metropolidan Museum of Art, she knows she has her chance to experiance what being a mortal is like. What change feels like, what having friends and people care for you are like.  This story is cross-posted with my Fanfiction account of the same name.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Series: Counting the days [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1833487
Comments: 1
Kudos: 29





	1. I propose a change in scenery

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, I am kinda new to AO3, obviously and I don't know exactly how to use all the tags. I would really appriciate it if y'all suggested what tags might fit this story along with what I have. Anyways, here we go with the first story, I hope y'all like it and I appriciate any feedback you guys are willing to give.

Looking out upon Olympus from my Mother's temple, seeing all the hustle and bustle as minor gods and nature spirits walked around, going about their daily lives. I came to a realization, I was bored. Very bored, of this place, staying upon this mountain. Where nothing ever changed, the Olympians always debated the same things, never actually putting anything into motion. Never actually doing anything to change how things were run around here, and that was unbearable for me after a while. Sure, the environment around us changed, shifting with the heart of the West. I could look from the clouds to the crowded New York city streets, hustling and bustling with activity. It was different compared to London, which was a chaotic mess of unfinished projects and half-finished promises.

New York City, however, was what she liked to refer to as "organized chaos." Sure there was a lot of mess and clutter around, but there was a clear system to it all underlying it. New York was much more akin to a puzzle where every piece fit together, even if all the pieces seem randomly cut at first. Staring out onto the city, my eyes kept jumping from mortal to mortal, the creatures like ants beneath me. Still, at the same time, everyone was different. A decade to them was a blink of an eye to me, focusing on two people, in particular, a child and an old man, it amazed me to think about how...Different the two were, with only a few decades between them, there were a lot of changes in everything about them. The child's eyes were still full of hope and wonder in contrast to the old man's weathered and war-torn ones. Though, that wasn't even the most dramatic difference I supposed. Teenagers change so much in just a few years.

"Ah, to be mortal...Maybe I would actually get to see what change is like. Though mother would never let me, the scorned, hidden daughter out of her cage to be one...Not without good reason."

Shifting my focus a little, I found a group of Adolescents outside of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I smiled and loved that place. It was a wonderful part of my domain, architecture. Well, architecture in harmony with nature accurately, but this still counted. Looking back to the group. There was a pair sitting on the steps outside of the museum that caught my eye instantly. There was a Satyr disguised as a human, his rasta cap, and wispy goatee the clear indicators of that. Talking to a dark-haired boy who just seemed to be radiating power, unrestrained, untrained, unrefined power, yes. But there was still a tremendous amount of potential in this boy!

Intrigued, I moved a little bit so I could see his face. The kid was obviously the child of an Olympian; his aura of power, before any training at all, confirmed that at least. It was the facial features that often determined who the parent was, however. Looking at him, I couldn't help but have a sense of familiarity wash over me when looking at him. He had a natural scowl it looked like, as if he was always profoundly thinking about something to himself, his jaw a little hard set and stuck out. Then, looking up to his eyes, I was amazed by their look, his irises looked stunning, to say the least. They were a deep, sea green, hues of blue mixed into the pools of verdant green shifting always in her vision like waves in the sea. The young man looked like a younger version of...No, no, he couldn't be the Poseidon's son. There was the pact banning them from having children! It was sworn upon the river Styx!

Though, it wasn't like that pact hadn't been broken before... So, it wasn't entirely out of the question. Still, Poseidon would never have a child like that out in the open, there would have to be cyclops around, protecting his son from Zeus and Hades' wrath. He wouldn't allow for a single satyr to be the only thing standing between the boy and the monsters if that was the case.

This child was probably just a legacy of the sea god and inherited some of his traits. That had to be it because this was just a boy. A boy who just seemed to be a little frustrated before an ugly redhead with orange freckles dropped her food into the satyr's lap. The boy closed his eyes, trying to concentrate something, probably remaining calm. When the water rose out of the fountain to grasp onto the girl and violently pulled her into the fountain! That, combined with the aura of power, and the water acting on its own, could only mean... Oh shit. Powers like that, accidental usage of powers, those couldn't come from a legacy.

Oh crap! The sea god he had...He had a demigod, son! That meant the prophecy was back on! That meant that Olympus probably only had five years left right! Wait, no..No, the great prophecy warned that the hero could either preserve or raze Olympus, right? That meant that there was a possibility that this child could choose to save them! Though, it would be nice to guarantee that somehow... Then I thought of my best idea ever! This kid, this child of Poseidon, could be the perfect excuse for me to become mortal and explore their world! See things changing rapidly around me for once.

"Yes! Yes! I can do it! But first, a bath." I got up from my viewing position, stretching a bit before walking my way through the temple gardens and into my mother's home. I ignored the various statues of mother as I passed them and went into my room, smiling at the scent of a woodland that emanated from the room as I stepped into it. Looking around for a bit, my smile widened, seeing a small bag of dried huckleberries on my bed, a gift from dad, no doubt. He loved sending me snacks whenever he could through the chain of his nymph friends. Walking over to my bed, I opened the baggie and popped a few berries in my mouth, savoring the tart flavors as they danced along with my tongue. Just a hint of sweetness was there, the sugar had been drawn out by the drying process it seemed.

"I wish I could have some fresh ones, things won't grow up on Olympus for some Hades Damned reason," I grumbled before popping another two berries into my mouth and sealing it shut. I placed the bag with some of the other things dad had sent me, dried salmon, some bear meat, more fish, a dozen or so different huckleberry products, and some buffalo jerky. My dad loved sending me food, but I didn't mind at all, getting a taste of his domain was wonderful whenever I got a new thing from him.

After undressing, I padded my way past a few bonsai pine trees, a few german clocks, and another set of foods, all magically enchanted to never spoil or run out of snacks for her to munch on. All gifts from my dad over the years, most of them for my birthday. How he managed to remember that after 550 years, I don't know, but he had managed to give me something for each of them. Most of the garden was made of flowers he sent me on that day.

Once I entered the bathroom and stared up the tap, I hummed a small tune to myself, thinking out all the ways that this potential relationship with Poseidon's son could go. Befriending the boy and staying with him throughout the years until the prophecy would royally piss off mother. Oh yes! Just another reason why this was an excellent idea, becoming friends with him, seeing him feel the rapid changes from 12 years old to 16, he already looked a bit like his father. I could only imagine that as he matures, he will gain the sea god's features. Though, beyond that, I had no idea how this would go. If it would even work, if I could convince the council to let me go! Mother would be against it. Because that would mean revealing myself to the whole of Olympus. She would rather see us burn than have her pride hurt, after all. Like I cared about that crap.

"Hopefully the rest of the council can outvote her, I don't doubt I will have lord Poseidon on my side, I want the boy to reach at least 16, maybe beyond that. He always cared for his demigod children, so that's one for one." My musings echoed throughout the bathroom, and I was stopped from continuing as my tub was almost full of water. Well, thoughts for another time.

Slowly, I dipped my hand into the water, shivering from the coldness before using my powers to heat it up, quickly shifting the temperature to a nice, steamy hot. One that fogged up the mirrors in the restroom before I lowered myself into the liquid. Out of all the powers that my father's domain contained over the years, this one had to be my favorite of all of them. Getting a perfect temperature bath every single time was simply amazing.

While in the tub, my eyes closed while I soaked in the calming heat of the water, my mind raced to what I would need when I turned mortal. First, I would definitely need some of the huckleberry products. I was not giving up my favorite food. Once I was a demigod, dad wouldn't be allowed to send me anything until I was immortal again. Though, the bag of huckleberries was quite large for something that was supposed to be bottomless. Did that mean he knew I would need an ample supply of the things soon? Did I have a finite amount of berries in the bag? More questions for later. Secondly, I would need to take along...The hat. I really didn't want to, that hat just represented everything bad about my mother to me but...Being able to vanish at any time you wanted, it was too valuable of an asset to just give up out of spite. It was also the whole reason I found out about the prophecy in the first place, sneaking around during the Olympic counsels.

"I want to protect him through all the monsters...I am going to need every advantage I can get. Even if I don't want to use her gifts, having an Olympian Parent will be important as well..." The plan was starting to sour a bit in her mind, but I shook my head a bit. This was important to the health of Olympus, to protect my own life as well as dad's. I also needed to change, to find changes, and get that experience. The experience of things moving at the breakneck pace of mortals for once...I may even like it in the end. Closing my eyes, I tried to imagine myself at his age, shifting ages was never something I excelled at, but...I probably should get used to a form like it for a while.

I soon felt my body shrinking, my body regressing in maturity by about a decade by mortal standards. Opening my eyes, I looked down at the body, it was weird. Shifting ages was always odd, but now I had a sudden lack of weight on my chest that I had never really noticed before. My limbs felt shorter, and I could tell that I was a lot weaker physically. Why did Hestia and Artemis prefer this type of form again? Getting out of the bath with a sigh, I almost tripped on my way out, I was a lot shorter now, and almost slipped on my way out.

"It's only going to be five years, only five years, and I will be growing throughout that." Walking towards my sink after draping a towel over myself, I looked in the mirror. Seeing the reflection of my curly blonde hair. Smiling at that before scowling a bit at my gray eyes when I focused on them, the stormy gray was a constant reminder who my mother was. Though, the little specks of blue, like the sky poking through rain clouds, were a gentle reminder that she wasn't all I was. Taking a deep breath, I slowly started to age myself up again. Watching as my body matured, shifting year by year. My legs growing longer, muscles firming up, and my chest becoming heavier again until it was at the end of the five years. I stared at the girl in front of me, my vision going to the tan arms I sported, my skin immaculate, unmarred by anything.

I slowly lifted my arms and took a look at them, my immortal body couldn't scar. It couldn't tarnish like a mortal's would. If my plan was accepted by the council then, this would likely be the last time I saw it like this. I might come back, my beautiful body covered in wounds and scars, reminders of the time I was a mortal. Would my body even grow to the state I was currently in right now? I...I didn't know, but I could only hope it did. Taking in a deep breath before releasing it, I nodded to myself, offering that this was what I wanted before exiting the restroom and dressing, grabbing the cap from its place on my wall, and putting it on. It was time to start putting my plan into action.

After a few hundred years of continually sneaking around, you tended to be quite good at stealth. You could make it so that no one noticed your presence, even if you were right in front of them, with or without an invisibility cap to help along the way. So, my climb from the temple towards the olympian throne room was a quick and simple one. I easily snuck past the minor gods and nature spirits that loitered about the city like they always did. The throne room was a little trickier to figure out, especially with what sounded like a major argument going on in there, but I had my ways in.

Seeking around to where Hermes' throne usually sat, I felt about. I found the entrance he always used when going for deliveries mid council, opening the door smoothly and sneaking in. No doubt, the lord of thieves noticed my presence and gaining a slight smile on his face as I came in. That man was always kind to me and made sure that my father's flowers were never damaged when delivered. So, he was one of my favorite Olympians by far.

"We must destroy him before he has a chance of destroying us! Poseidon's son is a variable we can not afford to take a chance on!" I felt the chamber thundering some as Zeus yelled, trying to assert his will over everyone present, Ares and Apollo visibly shrinking away from their father's wrath. Poseidon, however, remained stern-looking, at his youngest sibling.

"I will not have my son killed because of your paranoia brother. May I remind you that the prophecy declares there will be a choice. One that, if he chooses right, may save us all. Remember, if he is the child of prophecy, then he shall survive no matter what you try to throw at him." The sea god's rage was utterly different from Zeus', I could tell that from the calm way he spoke. Each syllable intentional, with an underlying current of fury, bubbling under the surface, just waiting to be unleashed.

"You just want to protect him because he stole my bolt! You are trying to protect him from my wrath using the Prophecy as an excuse!"

"Father, I highly doubt that one of his children has the mental capacity to steal your master bolt. Poseidon's children are not exactly known for their brains, but I will say that he is too much of a variable. It would be safer to kill him, try to delay the prophecy for as long as possible." At my mother's words, I smirked. This would probably be the best time to interfere, sneaking forward to the middle of the room. I bowed towards Zeus before removing my hat, revealing myself to every one of the Olympians.

"Who dares interrupt such an important council! Who dares eavesdrop on the Olympians? You better have a good reason for such, or I shall throw you from Olympus within the next minute!" This was it, raising my head to look at Zeus head on I tried to steel my nerves.

"Lord Zeus, I am Annabeth, daughter of Athena by my father, Vrasmos. I was looking to the mortal world today, observing it, and I too noticed the child of Poseidon... There have been rumors about a child of the Big Three being important to Olympus's fate going around for a long while now." I gulped, the olympian's gazes on me. I could feel every one of them judging me for what I was saying.

"Ah yes, Bird Brain's greatest shame. How's that vow going for ya tightwad? Still pretending you swore off men forever?" Ares's barking insult made me cringe some, mother was not going to like that. I kept my eyes focused on Zeus as he looked at me, though. Studying me, I could feel his eyes tracing my body up and down, probably deciding if I was going to be his next lay. It felt dirty to be under his gaze like that, but I stayed firm.

"I have a plan for that. I came up with one, yes you could destroy him and delay the prophecy more-"

"We are not going to kill my son! That is final!" I could feel tremors starting to shake the palace with Poseidon's anger, threatening to disturb everyone on Olympus. I suddenly turned my body to face him, there was fear in my eyes as I did so.

"Of course not, my lord! My plan does not call for that at all! You are completely right, there is supposed to be a choice in this correct? My plan was to... To influence him, control the prophecy in a way that he will make the choice to save Olympus instead of destroying us all. We may be able to guarantee that your son lives and that we do as well." Then the tremors stopped, and the man seemed to calm down quite a bit. Nodding, his eyes starting to show a thankfulness in them that I did not expect.

"That plan may be a fine one, but my...Daughter," Athena sounded like she was near vomiting from admitting their relationship. Something that almost made me smirk, but I held myself back. "We immortals are not allowed to interfere with mortal lives, nor show favoritism towards demigods. So, it is just safer to kill him, as we are allowed to do."

"Oh, but honored, mother! I have planned for that as well because I propose that you make me a mortal. That I become a demigod like the Son of Poseidon, at his age so I may befriend him and guide him towards the correct path. I am but a minor goddess, thus my presence here on Olympus is not as needed." My mouth was dry as I confronted my mother on this, barely believing in it myself. Still, I could only hope that the council agreed with my idea.

"Well, I think that's a brilliant plan. Subterfuge, trickery, manipulating the prophecy by embracing it, not avoiding it! Brilliant!" Hermes' voice echoed through the throne room, his mischievous smile on his face. "Apollo, do you think that this could lead to something disastrous like making it a self-fulfilling prophecy?"

"I suppose not, it could work. Most times, it's avoiding a prophecy that causes the worst possible situation to occur, so embracing it and trying to get the best thing we can from it may lead to a better end than most. Though I am not completely sure about that, it's not a feat often tried." Apollo looked contemplatively at me, suddenly his eyes were flooded with a bright green glow for a moment before they washed out to the usual sky blue.

"But I do believe that this girl will have a major influence on how things play out. No matter what, she is destined to be a major player in the future of the world. Better for us to choose what part she plays, at least." That was two on my side, my irises drifted to the rest of the Olympians, all of them looking at me with scrutiny.

"If she is going to be helping my son survive, then I have no problem with her becoming a-." The sea god was cut off by a loud squeal from Aphrodite like she had just realized something essential.

"Ooh, yes! Yes, I can see it now! The heartbreak! The Tragedy, the delicious forbidden true romance between a man and a soon to be immortal deity! I need this! I vote, yes! Yes, on her plan!" That was...Worrying, but ok. I got four votes on my side.

"Usually, if my brother thinks a plan will work, it is destined to fail. But, in this case, when dealing with Prophecies, I trust him above all else. I agree with this plan, it pains me that a young maiden will have to so closely consort with a boy for this, but we all must make sacrifices for the greater good." Five, I had five votes on my side! I only needed two more, and everyone else seemed to be deliberating it closer.

"You can't count on people, you can't count on gods or goddesses to do the right job, I like the idea, but we need a machine down there. Not something as malleable as a person. I say no," Hephestus spoke, barely looking up from the device he was tinkering with.

"Hmm, well, maybe if I have another immortal around down there, someone will understand my pain. Annabell, I am fine with taking you to the worst place on earth. Heck, if this turns out well, then my sentence may be reduced." Half the council was siding with my plan now, I calmed myself, trying not to get too excited at the prospect of becoming a mortal.

"It is too risky. I do not approve of my daughter risking her immortal life to get a chance at this, we should just kill the boy and get this over with." As expected, my mother didn't want me more exposed to the world than I already was. Two against me, six were with me. Looking up, I realized that neither Zeus nor Hera would approve of this plan. So it was six to four, the last two votes would determine everything.

"How long are you going to become a mortal? Just until the boy turns sixteen? For how long are ya gonna be down there with the other punks and worms, eh?" I looked to Ares with surprise, he wasn't usually the one for such questions.

"Five years, my lord, I plan to be down there for five years. I plan to start as a twelve-year-old at camp, and then age until I am seventeen, that should be enough to get through the prophecy and any aftermath." At the sound of that, I could see Ares perk up. His mind clearly starting to daydream about something.

"Five years...Five years of watching a god do battle as a mortal, just think of all the bloody conflict you could cause. Not even thinking about the destruction the kid could cause in the right hands...Oh yeah, I am not missing a chance at that! I would be missing out on a ton of amazing entertainment! I vote, yes! Yes!" The way he cheered at the idea of my potential destruction was alarming, but he was still on my side. It was seven to four, no way for the opposition to shoot this down.

"Then it is decided! Annabeth will become a mortal and travel to camp half-blood to guide Perseus Jackson onto our side. You shall become a mortal a week from when Perseus gets out of school to get adjusted before meeting my son!" Poseidon clapped, relief clear in his body as the tension from this situation flowed out of him. I smiled at him, it looked like despite his status, the god really cared for his son. I then gave everyone a bow before walking out of the throne room, mentally preparing myself for how this was going to change everything.


	2. Percy becomes a bullfighter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so y'all are liking this well enough. Gonna be posting a chapter every few days until this side is caught up with the ff.net side, along with other one shots and stuff I think of. So look forward to that. Anyways, I look forward to hearing your feedback on what I have here.

So as it turned out, being a mortal sucked! Like it majorly, completely sucked compared to being a goddess, and I have only felt like this for a week! If I ran too much or exercised too much, I would wake up the next day with my whole body sore. I actually had to remember to eat and drink, or I would pass out, which was not a fun experience. I couldn't eat as much nectar or ambrosia as I wanted because, apparently, I would "spontaneously combust" or whatever. I also couldn't just eat berries and snacks all day to sustain myself! It all was horrible, and I was counting down how much longer I had until I could be a goddess again. I couldn't even look at my new favorite bit of entertainment! Well, not yet at least, Percy wouldn't be here until...Today actually, I think it had been a week? It felt like it at least, but time moved faster as a mortal, so I didn't really know I guessed. It felt like it had been about that time, so hopefully, he would be here to kill her boredom soon.

Groaning, I closed my eyes, trying to sink into the bed a bit more. Apollo's chariot hadn't even peaked over the horizon yet! Was he lazing around with some other woman again? I couldn't sleep, so I might as well try to recall what I knew about the boy through my months of watching him. It wasn't creepy or stalkerish. I was just watching him because I was curious about the kid I was going to be spending the next five years of my life around; to be honest, I already liked him.

I quickly learned that his name was Percy Jackson, the first name was short for Perseus, a name that I found incredibly ironic. "Destroyer." Ha! Percy was not a destroyer, in any sense of the word. Sure, he might cause some destruction behind him, but that was never, ever his intention. If anything, he should be named Alexios "Defender" because that was all the boy did.

Sure, he got in fights, he got in quite a few fights with that pissant of a 12-year-old who I learned was named Nancy but they were never purely out of spite or anger. You could tell that the rage was always bubbling under the surface, sure, but it always took Nancy picking on someone weaker than herself for it to boil over and result in a fight. Percy was a natural-born protector who seemed to have a wicked streak of bad luck if his experience this year was anything to go by.

Percy had somehow gotten himself caught up in two false fire alarm incidents, a pop quiz that counted for 50% of his grade. Then nearly getting himself beheaded through a series of ever-evolving mishaps that led to the Latin Teacher's bronze sword being sent flying through the air at his neck from behind. The only reason Percy wasn't a dead body now was his untied shoelace that he bent down to tie after leaving it like that for a few minutes before he suddenly got a "bad feeling about it" as he told the Satyr. Said blade then flew through a few mortals without harming them a bit, revealing its nature as celestial bronze. Watching him go through it all was better than all the shows on Hephaestus TV combined, which was a lot considering there were 10,000 channels last I checked.

"Maybe I can recommend a new channel in my next prayer. A live stream of Percy's life, I am sure that it would have top ratings." That was certainly an idea, though how would she watch it? They weren't precisely allowed televisions in camp, not that there would be electricity to power it either. Sighing, I grunted, swinging my legs over the bed and onto the ground, glad to have the bottom bunk. I looked around the Athena cabin with a little bit of disdain. The whole cabin felt like a large classroom with sleeping being secondary! Sure, I had never actually been in a classroom, but I had seen enough through Percy's life that they were not fun places. And all the focus on book learning here in the cabin made me feel like my mother had focused on one type of wisdom too much over the years. Reaching over for my cap, I put it on and vanished from sight, sneaking my way through the cabin.

It looked like my siblings all peacefully asleep. I let out a sad sigh looking at them. Knowing I could never really relate to my demigod brothers and sisters. It wasn't like I disliked them, not at all, it's just. They all had a reverence for mother that I could never really get, they all were results of intentional unions, they were all wanted. Unlike yours indeed, they weren't considered mistakes by Athena, and likely would be flaunted by her when they all accomplished great things.

That was another thing I disliked about being a mortal, it was all the questions towards me! Sure, I didn't hide the fact that I was a goddess who lived on Olympus a short week ago. That hadn't stopped a feeling of annoyance creeping up my spine when all the kids asked me endless questions about their parents and what they were like.

Some people I didn't mind answering, like those in the Apollo cabin, because while the Sun god was pretty egotistical at times, maybe arrogant to a degree, it was obvious that he loved helping people down to his core.

Apollo was always striving to make people feel better, whether through the warmth of the sun, music, or poetry, or his ability to heal people. It was obvious Apollo hated seeing people in pain; he hated seeing those around him suffer unnecessarily and unjustly be it through sadness or literal injury and wanted to make it go away; however, he could and thus was the god of music and medicine. I bet he would have gone for mental illness as well if he could help those suffering from it, but that domain was snatched up by Dionysus. Going into detail about the few songs I heard directly from Apollo during his Olympic concerts were always a treat when I managed to sneak out of the house to see them. The memories brought a smile to my face as I exited the cabin and started to head up the hill to Thalia's pine, which was always the right place for me to calm down and collect myself. Something about being near her body, the body, and spirit that made the ultimate sacrifice for her friends comforted me.

Others, though, like the children of Aphrodite, I really wanted to avoid. The goddess of love was a very vengeful and dangerous woman. Letting herself be caught up in an infinite amount of mortal romances, most of which she had scripted to end in tragedy like some corrupted version of Shakesphere. One who was obsessed with heartbreak and ache, who just needed to see mortals crying due to her domain, cause it "sent shivers down her spine each time." She had already implied that she really wanted to mess with my love life during my time down here, and I did not want to risk angering her by telling her children the truth about their mother.

The most uncomfortable questions, though, always came from my siblings in the Athena cabin. Because not only did they ask the most complicated questions as expected from them, but she couldn't easily escape them into the cabin like she could with the others. So it always left me in the uncomfortable position of lying straight through my teeth or having to tell an eight-year-old that their mother was in mortal terms, was a "megabitch" and had no love for the woman. Thank the gods I had thought to bring my invisibility cap with me to camp, yes it was a symbol of how mother didn't want my face to be seen around Olympus. Still, it was also a great way to avoid awkward conversations with my siblings.

Trudging my way up the hill, I noticed it was raining heavily on the other side of the barrier. It produced a strange sight, as outside sheets of water fell from the sky, pounding long grass down as lightning crackled and thundered between the clouds. At the same time, inside, it was completely dry, cut off from the rest of the world with an abrupt stop. It made it look like there were two distinct worlds converging in one place, which I supposed was partially the point of camp. Sitting against the tree and leaning on it, I watched the storm with a wicked curiosity. My eyes flickering all throughout the scene for a few moments before they focused on a bright pair of lights, storming down the street. Weird, this wasn't a busy street at all, not from what I had seen in my observations, but yeah, those headlights were there and coming. Soon, a bright red Camero came barreling into my sight, the car managing to get about a mile away from camp before a lighting bolt pierced through the dark sky. The electricity lancing through the car and causing a massive explosion as the Camaro was knocked off the street

I looked at the scene with a slight smile on my face, this was entertaining. I was half-tempted to stay here and just watch whatever was going to happen. Still, I supposed that might be a little too cruel, and was about to go out to try and help whoever was out there when I saw the passengers move out. First, she was a pretty brunette woman, who climbed out the passenger's side, her brown hair wetting down by the pouring rain, and she looked desperate and scared, yelling something to whoever was in the car. However, her eyes still held kindness in them that could not be quenched by anything.

The second one out was a Satyr, well the body of one as it hung limply, half-conscious, and letting out a loud bleat, which made me chuckle a bit. So there was obviously half-blood or two in that car, thew woman likely the mother while this Satyr was the Protector. That meant I certainly had to help now, I couldn't just leave a Satyr and demigod to die in a car explosion. The mortal I could care less about, but it would be a shame to let someone that looked kind as her to die, I guessed.

Then, the last person finally climbed out of the car, his black hair plastered to his face, and clothes smoking lightly while he tried to push his protector's body out. A sleeping shirt hung loosely from his body. He was wearing bright orange and blue "finding Nemo" pajama pants, but I could still recognize him easily. He was here, Percy was here, and from the looks of it, he was in grave danger.

I was tempted to take off my hat then and there, run forward to help Percy and the Satyr, Grover was his name, I think, I stayed put though. They looked like they were being chased, and I wanted to see by what. I needed to know how powerful Percy was, how strong he was now at 12 so I could judge if I needed to look after his ass the entire time. If he was going to have trouble with a minor monster, he would be pretty useless against stronger beasts. That's when I heard the roar, it was like a loud bull's, and it somehow echoed above the sound of thunder and lighting.

Then, as Percy and his mother grasped Grover and started to bring him up the hill, I saw it. A towering, lumbering figure, its hooves clattering against the blacktop that smoothly transitioned into legs bulging grotesquely with muscles, a pattern that was repeated all the way up the beast's body. But it wouldn't be, could it? This was the monster that Theseus, Percy's half brother, struggled with defeating in his prime...My eyes continued to trace up the monster's body, its muscles all rippling in waves as it moved, oversized arms and fists together contributing to the appearance of the monstrosity. At its neck, the skin transitioned seamlessly into fur again.

Why was this thing sent after Percy? Why was the minotaur-one of the most legendary of Greek monsters being sent after the 12-year-old? My feet stayed planted on the ground, watching with morbid curiosity, wondering just how well Percy could do against the beast. Suddenly the mother called for them to separate, and the boy reluctantly did so, leaving his mother and Grover in the grass as the creature charged towards him. I was sure that the boy was going to be impaled by the two razor-sharp horns on the top of the thing's head, but no. Moving like a blur, Percy managed to dive to the side, the bull-man charging forward. Rushing up the hill again, the Minotaur stopped itself by digging its hands into the ground, pulling up a small mound of dirt to stop his forward momentum before it turned and went to charge again. This time, headed towards the mother and Grover. I watched this go down with lessened interest.

The mortal woman's fate was something I couldn't care less about. She was just another mortal that Poseidon decided to lay with after all. Grover, however, I didn't want to die here, the Satyrs were always delightful nature spirits. Their soft songs that occasionally played from the temple gardens had still managed to bring a smile to my face. Anyways, the mother tried the same strategy as her son, jumping and rolling from the bull's horns at the last moment, too bad that the monster had been expecting that I guessed. As his hand shot out as she landed, grasping her around the throat and starting to hold her up. Massive hand squeezing down on the throat, strangling her, threatening to make the woman pop like a massive balloon, and I had to admit, it would have been an impressive sight.

Still, even as she was strangled, the mother seemed to be putting her son first. I guessed that was where Percy got his Alexios nature from as she shouted a warning to her son in what must have been her last breaths. I stared forward at her, seeing all the love and care she had for her son, and the desire to see him safe no matter what. Ok, so maybe I would regret seeing her pop like a blood balloon now, because I could at least respect someone willing to go that far for a child, maybe send a prayer her way to get into Elysium.

Though she would take only one, the woman was only a mortal after all, though just as she was about to die. The minotaur's thumb about to snap her neck like a twig, the woman was coated in a golden light, her body dissolving like a slain monster's before suddenly she was...Gone. That wasn't how mortals died, right? I admit I have never seen one die before, so this may be normal, but what did they put in caskets and graves? Puppet recreations?

Now though, with the woman gone, the Minotaur started to sniffle at Grover, as if threatening to kill him like it did the mother. I charged forward, crossing through the border and letting my sent waft into the air. Distracting the beast for a moment, it probably wasn't the smartest move. Not a course of action, mother would approve of at all, but I couldn't let the Satyr die! I couldn't sit by and watch a nature spirit, or at least someone who desperately wanted to protect the nature that was my father's domain die like this.

So I drew the dagger I kept on hand, the weapon I felt suited to my ability to slip in and out of sight and strike with impeccable accuracy. The Bull was looking right at me as I ran down the hill. Percy, however, didn't seem to notice my presence at all, he didn't say anything as the thing stomped around Grover's head again. Hoof nearly crushing the goat boy's skull underneath, and I cursed, I probably wasn't going to reach in time to save the Satyr! Curse these shorter legs of mine, I should have a longer stride with each step! I looked feebly at the nearly unconscious Grover. He seemed to be groaning and moaning something muffled by the ground his face was pressed against.

Then I heard a cry of anguish behind me. Obviously, Percy, distressed at the thought of losing his friend, would collapse in grief soon, I couldn't fault him for that though. He was being forced to face the Minotaur! If he was brave enough to get this far at least, I knew he was going to be a precious asset in the future. Percy let loose a loud yell, surprising me once more and drawing some of my attention back toward him.

"Hey! Ground Beef!" Hearing Percy's anger tinged voice, I sighed sadly. He must be out for vengeance against his mother's killer. It was a sad day now that a hero I was starting to like somewhat would fall into the vice of rage, anger, and vengeance. I supposed I could still work with him and befriend him sure, but it was sad to know the kind boy was going to lose himself to his anger. Looking up from my position guarding Grover, I gasped at what I saw because there was Percy, waving his red jacked to draw the attention of the beast to himself. Still, when I looked into his eyes, I found no sense of vengeance there. I saw rage there, a little bit sure, but other than that, I saw the beautiful, sea green orbs filled with determination, a determination to protect. A determination to defend the Satyr behind me from the Minotaur, a harsh loyalty and refusal to let another one of his loved ones die.

The feeling under his gaze sent a shiver down my spine, though I wasn't sure what from. Fear? Anticipation? No, that wasn't it, I gulped as I realized that I was thinking of being the subject of that determination. The mental image of Percy bravely defending me from some sort of impossible odds made my body shudder oddly again. I was suddenly aware again of how weak this mortal body was compared to my godly form. Having someone willing to die to defend me was something I didn't know I desired until now, and I wasn't sure if that was normal or slightly psychotic. Thankfully, the monster's attention was now totally on Percy. I slid my way through the grass and stopped near Grover, ready to defend the Satyr if needed.

Hearing another roar from the Minotaur I looked to it, my gaze quickly shifting between the bull-man and Percy, I was tempted to dash in and stab its side to end this now. Still, I wasn't sure if that would work and my curiosity, my need to see how strong the Son of Poseidon overrid the desire for Grover to be safe. If things got terrible, I would step in, I promised myself that at least. I wasn't going to let the boy die before he even got into camp proper! Then, the bull-man charged rushing through the tall grass, his hands ready at either side to grab Percy if he dodged to either side. Still, the demigod apparently wasn't planning on doing that all as he leaped from the ground, flipping mid-air up and onto the Minotaur's head, grasping onto a horn just as it slammed into Thalia's pine tree with a loud crash.

For the next few moments, I watched, astounded by the scene unfolding before me, the bull-man violently shaking its head. Letting out huffs and roars the whole time and Percy's body was whipped around with it, looking like a rag doll from his feet up to his shoulders. Still, from the arms downwards, there was a steel grip on the monster's horn, muscles tensed up like a steel cable holding up an unimaginable amount of weight while the boy struggled to stay.

Finally, Percy managed to get some purchase with his feet, something to stabilize him as I went in, there was no way for the kid to kill that thing now without dying himself. He had done amazingly so far for a demigod without training, but now he would need a little help ending this. Then the sound of thunder rang out again as Percy started to pull back, his feet pushing back against the Minotaur's head and with a loud, echoing snap! The horn came right off, and Percy tumbled down into the grass, now holding the monster's horn in his right hand like a nasty curved dagger. I caught his eyes again, a small bit of rage and a desire for vengeance just now bubbling up, but it didn't seem like it was controlling him like it had so many other heroes.

"No way...The rain must be helping him somewhat, right?" I stopped my charge, this was supposed to be impossible for the kid now. Still, he had gone and defied my expectations, even if just by a little bit, as he baited the bull-man into charging at him again. Percy soon rolling to the side and coming upright against the minotaur's chest and driving the horn into its torso using the monster's own force and momentum to tear through the muscle and sinew like it was butter before the beast grasped at its chest in pain before it dissolved into dust like all other monsters, leaving a whaling Percy behind coming forward to grab Grover. I followed suit, taking off my hat. Percy's eyes widened as I appeared, his eyes still a little determined and angry, he looked about ready to choke me out, end me like the bull-man.

"Who the? Who are you? Why didn't you help!" I cringed away from his shouting, hearing the pain in his voice. Probably just from losing his mother, I couldn't sympathize on that point, but it was easy enough to figure out.

"I couldn't! I..I was trying to defend Grover here! If you had been taken out by that monster, then I was going to make sure he survived." It was a half-truth, I was in this spot to defend the goat boy sure, but I knew that wasn't my main reason for not helping. Thankfully though, that seemed to pacify Percy as he nodded.

"Ok, protecting Grover. Good." The boy then suddenly lurched forward, as if he was about to pass out and I finally took a good look at him up close, his skin was red and sizzling, his shirt and pants mostly were torn apart. He walked like he had injuries in both his legs, probably sprains or worse, and when he went to shoulder Grover with me, I heard him gasp out in pain. It was clear, the only thing keeping him going now was his determination to see his friend in a safe place. Ignoring another rumble of thunder from the sky, I took half of the Satyr's weight and walked with them.

Guiding the two towards the Big house, Percy constantly stumbling the whole time, lurching now and then, his whole body clearly in pain, but he didn't complain. He didn't say a single thing until we were in the house, where he promptly collapsed on the floor, passing out while mumbling something about a princess's hair or something. I grunted, looking to Chiron, who simply nodded at me while I brought him to the infirmary. The centaur spent the next few moments looking over the newest addition to camp.

"How bad is it? He just went through a loud car crash before fighting the Minotaur."

"Broken ribs, his chest completely covered in bruises, some minor internal bleeding and a state of acute exhaustion. Along with some minor burns along his arms, the boy is going to need ambrosia and nectar. He likely won't be fully conscious for days. We need someone willing to look after him."

"I can do it! I mean, I promised that I would see him to his sixteenth birthday. Oh, and about that, should we tell him about his parentage right away, or shall we wait until he is claimed?" Chiron hummed some, clearly deep in thought for a few moments before nodding.

"Wait until he is claimed, let's let him enjoy normal camp life for at least a little bit before thrusting him into a destiny he does not deserve. I don't think he will have much time in ignorance sadly. The feud between Zeus and Poseidon over the bolt has been getting worse during the past few months. I fear we are reaching the point where something drastic must be done to prevent a godly war." At that, I sighed, of course! Looking at the passed out boy before me, I sighed, yep... That something drastic would probably include him, and by proxy, me. At least it may be entertaining.


	3. Seaweed Brain Gets the Rundown

The next few days of nursing Percy back to health were strange ones. Looking after a life which was so close to being snuffed out, one that was hanging in the balance between life and death was...Weird. I don't know if I enjoyed it or not, but I certainly felt something stirring in me when the color started to return to his cheeks, and he began to move around more, mumble and drool in his sleep. Even bringing up a fight with a demon-math teacher in his dreams, so the Minotaur hadn't been his first monster? That was interesting to hear, Percy was certainly someone full of potential.

I could only hope to direct that potential into my favor, feeding him a bit more diluted ambrosia, it took all my willpower not to just tell him who he was, and what he meant for the world. Chiron insisted that he had four years before he needed that knowledge, but what was the big difference between four years and now? I am pretty sure I have slept that long before, and nothing much changed.

But that was on Olympus I supposed, and part of the reason I was so eager to come down here because for a boy like Percy and well...I guess a girl like me for now, four years, actually could change a lot. It could shift who you were as a person when you were a mortal, and everything seemed so slow. When he started to wake up, drifting in and out of consciousness, I chuckled a bit, seeing his sea-green eyes, clouded with drowsiness looking at me with both confusion and a bit of gratitude, he mumbled something about Grover before passing out again for a while more.

"So interesting...Though I suppose...Yeah, it might be better for him to wake up with a friend." I then hummed a bit before getting up and went to find the Satyr, who was nervously pacing around the porch. There were deep bags under his eyes, he probably hasn't slept since he woke up right after we brought him into the big house.

"Grover! Hey, Percy is starting to wake up now. I think he may still be worried about you, it would probably be a good idea to be with him next time he wakes up." Grover just shook his head sadly.

"I am the one who failed him, though! His mother is dead because of me, um...Annabeth, was it?" I nodded. "Well, Annabeth, I am the reason his mother is dead; if only I had stayed by him, my bladder not acting up, I could have gotten him here sooner. Then the Minotaur wouldn't have found us, and she would be here and..." I shook my head, not quite getting why he was so upset at the mortal woman's death, they died all the time.

"Grover. No matter what you think of yourself, Percy still sees you as a friend right now and is worried about you. We both saw last night how much he went through, I think having someone he knows around will be better than the random girl who appeared from the air." I grasped his shoulders, making Grover look me in the eyes. I was not going to let my chance at feeling change feel depressed because of one Satyr's insecurities. Especially not when they seemed pretty unfounded.

"A-alright, I guess, I will be here when he wakes up. But if he decides to hit me or take out his anger on me for getting Sally killed, then I am not protesting it. I wasn't even useful in the fight, I was just a burden like always." I groaned a tad at that; he seriously could not think that the car getting hit by lightning was his fault, right? Shaking my head, I decided to walk over to where Chiron and Dionysus were playing a card game of some sort, to chat and get ready for when Percy really woke up.

After about an hour or so of chatting with the Wine God about the dumb politics up on Olympus, I noticed Percy and Grover coming forward out of the corner of my eye. Percy was clutching onto the Minotaur's horn tightly, his knuckles becoming white as if it was the only thing anchoring him to the world now. At the same time, he stared at all of us. The explanation as to what was going on flowed quickly, Percy understandably asking many questions about his life and what was going on. Then he looked to me, his eyes tracing up my whole body curiously.

"You're the girl from that night, right? The one who said they were protecting Grover from the Minotaur, right?" I nodded, looking him up and down yet again. His body language had once more shifted from what I was used to seeing over my months of observing him. Instead of the underconfident slouch he usually had, or that courageous, challenging posture that he adopted when taking on the Minotaur for his best friend's life, Percy had adopted a scared stance. His voice shaky, he looked like he was going to collapse at any moment now. Not from exhaustion or injury like before but from an overload of what was going on.

"Of course, I...I am sorry I was not able to help your mother. I didn't get there in time, but I couldn't let that thing kill a Satyr like that. If I did, my dad would never forgive me." He shivered a bit when I said that, and I felt a twang of sympathy in my chest. Maybe it was best not to bring up the death of his mother around this boy.

"Don't be, it's my fault they attacked us anyways, but thank you. Thank you so, so much for being willing to protect Grover if I had... I would never be able to forgive myself, even in the afterlife, whatever it is if my best friend died because I wasn't there to protect him." He spoke somberly.

"Like I said, I couldn't let a Satyr die like that. Anyways I should get going, got activities to attend to ya know?" He nodded, his eyes still sad, remaining on me as I started to walk away, I didn't like seeing him sad, even when watching him on Olympus. The kid was just so giving that him being sad didn't sit right with me.

"Oh! And Percy, you have a little something right here." I then pointed at a spot on my chin, rubbing it a little bit, and thankfully Percy caught on a moment later, raising a hand to wipe off the wet mark. Making a confused noise as to how it got there, and I gave him a slight smirk. "You drool when you sleep." And with that, I left a blushing Percy to get his introduction spiel from Chiron

As it turned out, Percy was still an unlucky dork, even after discovering he was a demigod. Because as soon as he tried to enter the Hermes cabin, his foot caught on a slightly raised, a warped bit of wood, and he face-planted right onto the wood, the sound echoing out with a loud thunk. I had to hide a giggle in my hand as I stepped back when Luke, the Hermes counselor, stepped up, his gaze friendly as he looked down at Percy before they drifted up to me, and I shivered a bit. There was something about his gaze, those cold blue eyes that seemed to pierce into my soul, hatred, and spite all concentrated on me for the moment before they relaxed a bit when he started talking to his newest ward.

Shaking my head to get that cold feeling out of my body, I soon took Percy out to the Volleyball pit, not wanting to stay within Castellan's presence for any longer than I had to. The guy just seemed to exude this aura of both charisma and danger that I could never quite get used to. Not that I ever wanted to.

Once we were out of the glaring range, I sighed and started to chat with Percy again to explain how monsters were actually immortal. That you could only banish them back to Tartarus for a time before they came back, angrier than ever when the resident bully of the Camp, Clarisse came in to introduce herself. Once she was here, though, I took a step back from her at the insistence of Percy's look that he had to handle this on his own. So I would let him.

I smirked a bit when I saw Clarisse taking Percy over to the bathroom to dunk his head, give him a swirly and the like, because well...I always did enjoy watching Percy but bullies in their place when I was watching him at Yancy. It was still deliciously satisfying to watch him take down someone who thought they were everything, and he was just a scrawny 12 years old. Watching those moments was always amazing to me. And now I would be able to watch it happen in real-time up close! It was like watching a live performance of my favorite TV show, which I guess this was, in away.

I followed them up the hill towards the toilets. My eyes focused on Percy and his struggles, giving him a sympathetic look despite the small smile on my face, my eyes flickering to Clarisse, and making a gagging motion. Hopefully, he got the message, I was on his side and wanted to see him turn this around. From the slightly angry expression I got in return, I guessed not, but he kept struggling, kept fighting against Clarisse, even when he was about to have his face shoved into slightly clogged toilet water, and I looked on, eager to see what would happen...Then I heard the pipes start creaking.

Hades yeah! This was going to be good, stepping aside from the bathroom door. I watched in awe as the entire bathroom exploded, gallons of water drenching the children of Ares, filling their mouths with toilet and shower water, spraying them all down mercilessly. At the same time, Percy somehow managed to stay completely dry. Luckily, I was expecting this, so I was only a happy bystander, looking on as the bullies were washed out like the trash they were.

"Woo! That was great, Percy!"

"What? I didn't do anything! The bathroom just exploded around me, ok? Nothing to do with me, I don't think at least..." This time, when I looked into his eyes, I saw him, trying to deny that this was happening. Still somehow wanting to believe that this was a crazy dream and he would return safely to his mother in time, and I let out a small groan: Welp, time to force him into confronting this.

Grabbing his arm, I dragged the boy down towards the lake to explain things to him, how he was a demigod, a child of a god and a mortal. About how his mother was likely just some fling his father had for a woman and thus had him. It wasn't a bad thing though, and that didn't dismiss his mother's love for him, not just anyone would sacrifice their life for their child after all. His father, on the other hand...Many godly parents didn't care about their demigod children; sadly, he gained a slightly frustrated look at that.

"No, my dad loved my mom. I know it. I know that he loved her, and he would have told her all about this crazy world, who he was and everything..." I felt terrible for him, being a little delusional about the god's love, but hey, this was Poseidon we were talking about, maybe he really did fall in love with the frail mortal woman. He was a strange god like that, so it wouldn't be super out of character to do so.

"So, who is your dad? Maybe we are siblings or something, would explain why you are so nice to a loser." I shook my head at that.

"Nope, my dad is a Nature God down in Yellowstone, he is in charge of stopping it from blowing up and killing everyone in America with all the ash and stuff." Percy's eyes scrunched up a bit then, trying to think to himself about what I just said.

"But, only the children of Olympians are allowed here, right? So how are you um...Here?" Percy's question made me shrug with a small smirk.

"First, the children of minor gods are allowed in. They just don't have their own cabin and are stuck in 11, with Hermes. Secondly, I do have an Olympian parent, Cabin 6." His face told me he didn't know the cabin numbers, but he was trying to figure something out, putting puzzle pieces together.

"Athena, goddess of Wisdom, Battle Strategy, and strangely Weaving."

"Wait, if your dad was a god and your mom is a goddess, wouldn't that make you a god? Why are you here?"

"Normally it would yes, but I have chosen to become a mortal, a demigod for the next five or so years. Now I am stuck here with you mortals until then, and I got to tell you that being a mortal is not all I thought it would be...Damn stomach actually getting empty." I grumbled, and Percy seemed to have the ghost of a smile on his face like he was about to break out into a big grin but was holding himself back for whatever reason before his face lit up with realization again.

"So if you were a goddess before, does that mean you might know who my dad is?" I had to resist groaning at that, and I prepared myself for the usual questions before shaking my head, he wouldn't want to know what they are like if he didn't even know who his father was.

"I might, Chiron and me...We are almost positive about who your dad is, but we do not want to tell you yet."

"Why not?! I have spent my whole life wondering if my dad even loved us, you know who he is and won't even tell me? Why?!" I sighed at Percy's anger, it wasn't like he was wrong. It might be seen as cruel to keep the information from him but that knowledge...It probably wasn't good for him to know right now. Still, I had to think of a reason other than the prophecy. Looking to his hand, I nodded slightly to myself.

"Why do you still have the horn on you when there was enough room on your designated spot in cabin 11? You could have left it there and not be bothered with the weight and all."

"Well, I was going to put it down, but then I remembered that Hermes was the god of thieves, and I didn't really trust them." He then shrugged, as if it was obvious before he gained a look of realization on his face.

"Oh, I just...Judged them all on their dad, didn't I? Oh lord...I am horrible for doing that! Though how do I apologize for something I didn't do? How do I-" Before he could go on a self-deprecating rant, I shook my head while putting my hand up, amusement sparkling in my eyes.

"Yes, you shouldn't have done that, but you wouldn't be wrong. A lot of kids here take traits due to their parent's domains. I think it's just the kids have a natural talent at things related to what their parents control, and mortals tend to cultivate themselves around their talents, so a lot of kids in the Hermes cabin would, in fact, like to steal that horn off of you." He seemed to relax a bit but still looked really guilty... This might not have been the best thing to talk about with him while he was still very much grieving for the mortal who died a few nights ago.

"The point here is that there are a lot of preconceived notions due to your parents here. Chiron and I want you to get used to camp for a bit before you have to be subject to those notions and biases. Let you be undetermined and make friends with anyone before you are claimed, and those idiotic rivalries between our parents try to get in the way of them. Get it, Percy?"

"I-I guess. I would still like some form of a hint as to who my dad is, a sign or something that he really cares about me, that he didn't just abandon mom and me because of the stress or that I was unwanted." I smiled a little somberly at that, I wanted to remind him that again, most godly parents didn't give their demigod children a second glance, but I stopped myself. Soon remembering the council meeting and how Poseidon had practically threatened to send into ruins with an earthquake at the thought of anyone harming Percy.

"I assure you that if your dad is who I think he is. Then he loves you very much, so much that he may have almost made Olympus collapse at the thought of you being killed. So at least he wants to see you alive and happy, which is something many demigod kids can't say." Percy took a step back at the news, his eyes wide in shock. I guessed that he wasn't used to someone caring for him like that.

"So my dad... He really does care for me?"

"I..I don't know Percy. Honestly, I don't. But he seems to be vested in you not dying, so that's a plus. I wouldn't call it love yet, but maybe he will show that he does love you. Just please, don't get your hopes up super high, only to crash harder than Hephestus." He nodded, the fire dying in his eyes, tempering just slightly. That was good, I wouldn't have to talk to him about that more soon hopefully. He was probably already bracing for an uncaring father like he had lived with for years before his entire reality was shattered.

"Listen, I have to get to the climbing wall in a little bit, but I can go get Grover to chat with you some more today. If he is through with his meeting, I am sure he will try to do everything he can to stay your friend."

"Stay? Why would I ever leave him? G-Man is the best, I couldn't imagine a better best friend."

"Well, he is totally blaming himself for the...Impromptu rodeo and all that came with it. So he thinks you will hate him for...You know." I gulped, trying to avoid the fact that his mother was dead, that would only make things sour between them if that was all they talked about.

"But I'm the one who ran from him! I am the one that thing was sent after, I am the one who couldn't kill it fast enough. If anyone should be blamed for the incident, then it should be me!" He looked at me, a little desperate to hear what the fate of his best friend was.

"Well, you are going to have to convince him of that, not me. Either way, that Satyr is really committed and friendly to you, Percy. The way we talked earlier sounded like if he was conscious, he would have fought the Minotaur on his own if needed. It's not the kind of thing seekers are normally tasked with doing. Think about it, goats are social creatures, just like humans." With that and a small wink, I turned from Percy, racing my way towards the climbing wall. I was eager to see just how the lava felt, how hot it was! The idea of climbing a sheer cliff face while lava poured down excited me more than I would like to admit.

The lava wall came with both a pleasant surprise and a sense of lingering disappointment. Because as it turned out, I was resistant to heat and lava! It wasn't super surprising I supposed, my father was the one keeping a supervolcano under control after all. Still, when I realized that the lava wouldn't really hurt me or even singe something other than my clothes, it soured the whole experience just a tad.

Thankfully, I could use this information when I went out into the real world, being resistant to fire would come in handy. Though I wondered how far I could push it, how high were the limits of that resistance. I knew I wasn't immune to it. Otherwise, I couldn't feel the bright summer sun on my back and arms as I climbed up the shaking wall. My hands placing themselves on the lava covered pieces quickly, I could still feel the heat coming from the liquid for sure, but it wasn't intense or painful as it looked for my siblings also trying the wall.

"Well, I guess this is something to test later on. I think I could visit the forges, they have a lot of heat there." I mumbled to myself, trying to sort out and organize my thoughts out loud. That often helped. So I kept brainstorming to myself as I climbed the wall. Letting out a gasp when I reached the top, my arms already sore and throbbing from the effort of climbing up once, and I looked down at the rest of the cabin, struggling to avoid being sent to the infirmary with second-degree burns.

Looking out towards the ocean, I noted that the sun had started dipping under the horizon, and I turned to repel down. My mind once more turning towards Percy and how for now he was stuck in the same cabin as Castellan, the idea of that making me shiver some. I didn't trust him, he looked at me with such disdain, such rage that I couldn't help but feel he was always planning my demise. I didn't want that guy around Poseidon's son; even if he treated Percy nicely, I guessed I would have to be a bit more active in befriending the boy and steering him away from his counselor.

Once I had reached the bottom of the wall and unhooked myself from the harness, I stretched my arms up before releasing the tension and letting out a sigh when the conch sounded. It was time for dinner and time for me to spend a few hours alone at a table full of people that I was supposed to get along with. No point in trying to change that though, they were probably warned against me by mother in their dreams.

As we all started to fall in, I looked around at a few of my siblings, most of them avoiding looking at me at all but a boy who gave me a slight smile. I did my best to return it and remember his name. It started with an M, I think, anyways we all walked in a single file to the dining pavilion and sat down. The rest of the Athena cabin starting a conversation on their own as I stayed silent, ignoring them. My eyes began drifting from table to table. It was nice to see Dionysus at table 12, talking to his children, and I recalled him saying the only slightly positive thing about his punishment was that he could spend time with his boys teach them how to use their powers properly.

Then my eyes turned towards the Hermes cabin, catching Percy's eyes with my own, he still looked nervous but was starting to fit in some. Luke seemed to mumble something to him, and the boy took his glass and filled it with some soda before he spoke again, and it turned bright cobalt.

Getting an idea, I raised my own glass, filling it with Blue-Raspberry Soda, and the bright cyan drink filled my lens, and I signaled an air toast with him. The boy smiled at me and returned the favor. It was the first full smile I had seen on him for the whole day, that was good, he should be smiling more. I drank the glass, I didn't know what he toasted to, but I know mine was for the potential friendship we had blooming. It was my first positive change since becoming a demigod, and hopefully not the last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are again, another day another update. Hope y'all enjoy this one, and I really would like to see any critisim yall have for me on this cause I want to improve it as much as I can.


	4. Castellan Cracks his family Jewels

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go, another chapter. I hope y'all like it. Please as always give me comments and reviews and stuff.

My second week at camp went decidedly better than the first, probably because I had at least two friends around to get me through some of the more tedious activities. Percy had been kind, especially after our toast the first night he spent here. It had become somewhat of a tradition for us very quickly. At dinner, we shared an air toast of some sort of blue drink with each other through the air. I also made sure that I was the one to teach him Greek so that I could spend more time on my "mission" of befriending the boy and influencing him to make the choice to save Olympus. It was a good thing that Percy wasn't a massive jerk like other Big three kids I have seen over the centuries. Otherwise, I probably would have abandoned this task months ago.

In turn, Percy introduced me to Grover, the underconfident Satyr who really, really needed someone to give him a confidence boost if he wanted to really be a searcher. Personally, I tried to dissuade him from the task, remembering the tales my dad told me of the horrible different ways Satyrs had been slaughtered during the search for Pan, but he was obstinate in his dreams. It was frustrating sure, but I was glad that someone so devoted to their cause seemed equally invested in protecting Percy, even after getting him to camp. While most of the Satyrs saw their charges as a way to get their licenses, this one seemed to have genuinely become Percy's best confidant in the world now and vice versa. It took a little weight off my shoulders, knowing I wasn't the only one invested in seeing him alive for as long as possible.

Today, I got out of my bed with a little more energy than usual because I had some free time to spend with my two companions, something I never expected to be excited about. Food, gifts from my dad, and experiencing new things? Sure, I could always see myself loving those things, but being eager to just walk around the camp talking with two people? That prospect never should have excited me as much as it does right now, but it did, and that was all that mattered I supposed.

Once out of bed I stretched a little, letting my joints pop with a satisfying sound before I released it and looked under my bed for the bag of dried huckleberries that my dad had sent me all those months ago, debating on whether to bring them down to the river or not. On the one hand, the bag itself was contraband, and I could get in trouble for having it on me, though what bothered me more was that, as I suspected, the bag was not enchanted to be endless, and just held a lot of the berries. Should I use some of my few precious snacks as a way to bond with the boys? My stomach grumbled, telling me no, I shouldn't but..I really did want to share a little bit with them.

"Meh, maybe I will bring them next time for now though it is time for breakfast." I yawned, looking at the rest of the cabin just waking up now the blond hair on their heads messed up—shared gray eyes in a tepid state of drowsiness. My own hand went to my blond locks, remembering that Athena's children were made by mother to be an ideal in her opinion, so the fact that they all had blonde hair when she was a brunette meant that mother must really find blond hair cute. Well, I already knew she was into blondes, my dad was evidence enough of that. But to finally make the connection was a beautiful thing.

"Annabeth, come on, we need to get to breakfast before the Hermes cabin devours everything there. I swear to the gods that their newest kid eats more than a Cyclops!" One of my siblings whined to me, and my face hardened slightly as I got out of bed and into my shoes, sighing as I thought about my schedule today, I didn't have much time to hang out with Percy and Grover, and today I had a sword-fighting lesson with...Castellan. Great, that was not going to end well, given how much the guy seems to hate me.

Following my cabin, to the diving pavilion, we got there just in time to see Percy devouring the food quickly, how he put away so much of the stuff I had no idea. He only stopped briefly to give me a soft wave, his cheeks stuffed full of...Granola, it looked like, and greek yogurt of course blueberry yogurt at that. I gave him a soft wave back, trying not to laugh at his squirrelish appearance before Castellian appeared again and glared at me before saying something to Percy that I couldn't hear.

"Distracted by the new kid again? What do you think of him? Any insight as to who his parent is? Because I can't help but get a bad feeling when I stare at him, its the same feeling I get when I look at y..." The kid stopped, I looked at him, it was the kid from yesterday. Mr.M-something. He apologetically looked at me with his slip up, and I could easily decipher what he meant. So my siblings got a bad feeling when they looked at me, huh? Probably a byproduct of Mother's wonderful affection warning them against her scorned and enemies.

"I think he is a really kind boy who lost his mother and is trying to recover some. Even if I don't understand his point of view, I am not going to be against him. I think he is one of my few friends at this camp." I had to suppress a glare, M probably didn't mean anything by what he said. His eyes even said he was a little sympathetic, worried even. He had a bad feeling, and Demigods were generally trained to trust their guts.

"Sorry, sorry. If he is friends with you, then I guess he must not be that bad. Still, I don't like how I get nervous when he is around; it's like when a monster is approaching you, ya know?" I didn't, I honestly didn't know what he was talking about at all, but I just nodded, hoping to get through the conversation about Percy as soon as possible.

"I don't get that feeling at all when I am around him. In fact, he probably would feel horrible that just being around is making you feel uncomfortable. I had watched him for a long time, and he takes a lot of blame onto himself. Too much, in fact." I grumbled this would need to be something I hid from Percy. I could already tell he was having trouble fitting in and making friends other than Grover and I, probably because of his mourning state.

"You can thank our mother for the feeling, by the way, she is usually pretty biased about the gods she hates, so you can bet he is a child of one of them." I shook my head before getting myself some bacon and pancakes, being careful with doling out the syrup on them so that there was enough on the fried dough that it imparted flavor onto all of them, but not enough to drown them.

"Do you know who his parent is then? I heard that he was whining for his mom when he came into camp, so she must be the mortal one, right? Do you know who his godly parent is?" At that, I let loose a small growl, a rumble in my throat. Yeah, I didn't care about the mortal's life. She had come and gone like they all do in the end, but it was a sensitive subject for Percy, and I didn't care for people talking so callously about it behind his back.

"I have my suspicions, but that's it. Now please leave me alone so I can eat my Pancakes and go teach my friend some Greek." I resisted the urge to give the kid a rude gesture as I ate my food. It had started off innocently enough, but now I was just sort of sour to him. So casually speaking about such a sensitive subject.

"Ok, sorry about that...I didn't think you would get offended after a week of knowing the guy." Ok, M was quickly getting on my shit list. Sure, he had only known me for a week, but I had watched him for months! I had known about him for months and had even seen the rage he produced at the death of his mother, and the subsequent need to protect his best friend. Percy didn't deserve people talking behind his back like that, maybe I could do something to stop it. Looking up from my food, I caught Percy's sympathetic look again. I saw his irises flicker dangerously, a bit of that protective aggression that I had seen before starting to appear.

Quickly I shook my head, I didn't want him to get in a fight. Not for me, not for something like this. I knew from some experience that he wouldn't hesitate to get kicked out of this place, causing fights if it meant I could feel somewhat better. I had seen it happen at Yancy after all. It was nice to know he was willing to do that for me, however, and I couldn't help but wonder if anyone else in my life would do that for me.

I quickly decided that they wouldn't, the Satyrs and Nymphs I knew wouldn't do that, and my father, loving as he was, wasn't willing to directly fight mother for me, though I wondered how far this loyalty to his friends went. Calming down a bit, for Percy's sake if not my own. I went back to eating my food eager to get through it so I could spend the following hour and a half with him, looking forward to something good to improve my mood.

After that disaster of a meal, I hung out with Percy once more, underneath the shade of a tree near the canoeing lake giving my friend his greek lesson. Today, we were actually going through a Greek translation of the stories of Robin Hood. It was a deviation from our usual mythological tales, but I knew that eventually, those would bore my friend and me, so we needed to switch it up a bit.

"Man, I always heard of this guy before. Seen a few movies of him and the like, but I never imagined that his adventures were this...Goofy, it's fun, though." He read about how he tricked the Sheriff of Nottingham to get his riches and the like to spread to the poor. "If only Robin Hood was around today." I shook my head, going back to read about the noble thief for a moment before looking at him again. Still harboring some sadness, I could tell.

"Hey Perce, is there anything that you...Miss from outside of camp? Like anything you really wish you could have right now but aren't able to?" I couldn't help him with his grief, I just didn't understand that. Wants and desires, though? I could help fulfill those hopefully.

"Oh, um...I guess blue food. There isn't enough stuff here, not really any if you don't count the drinks we toast every night, which I don't, but it's the closest thing I have for now."

"Why blue? If you don't mind me asking, it seems like an odd color to want your food to be." So there was probably a reason he drank something blue every night. Also, this was something I could totally help with; I had a stash of those blue berries in my cabin after all.

"Oh, it's just a silly thing I did with my mom...We ate blue food, so doing so kind of feels like I am connecting to her for now. I don't want to stop doing it ever, because it's our special thing." I nodded, humming with pursed lips, so it had to do with the woman.

Why was she so important to Percy that she wanted to continue a tradition with her even after she was gone? This was curious, but I wouldn't push it further than that. Maybe if I could ever meet her, then I would understand, but she was killed. So I couldn't, all I could do was offer him the comfort of my berries sometime soon. Hopefully, that was enough to make him feel a little better. Shrugging, I nodded along to Percy, those thoughts buzzing in my head as we went back to reading again.

My cabin was lined up at the arena, all of us waiting for the sword instructor to appear, and true to form he did. Castellan's blond hair and tanned looks coming up the hill from the Hermes cabin with a soft smile on his face, I guessed he might look handsome to some people. Especially mother, as he gave off that rugged, but thinking aura from himself and everyone in the cabin was evidence of her weakness for that hair color. To me though, he put me on edge, my skin prickling a bit when he was coming in close, he looked to Mr.M with an apparent kindness in his eyes before all of it vanished when he caught that I was there, becoming cold while he got into the bit.

"Alright campers, today we will be working on your basic forms. No new moves today, we want to make sure you have a solid foundation before moving to the more complicated stuff. Everyone chooses a sparring partner and get to it. Annabeth, because there is an odd number of campers. You are with me." I hissed a little bit, this wasn't going to be fun. I nodded anyway, I didn't want to say anything and draw suspicion to the Hermes Counselor, I may have had a bad feeling, but no one else here did apparently.

Grabbing a blade that felt right enough, I stepped into the pit, and Castellan jumped on me, even before I could get into a proper stance and started to slap and whip at me with his blade. Castellan's sword nothing more than a flash of bronze as he attacked me from all angles. Commenting on my form now and then, giving surface-level feedback to look like he was doing his job. I was forced to do my best and defend myself. Adapting as fast as I could to the man who was pounding away at me.

As we fought, my blade clashing into his a few times, I could feel the differences in our strength and speed. He was overwhelming me, and the only thing keeping me slightly in the game was the fact that I had been practicing swordplay, admittedly against dummies and training automatons for the past few hundred years. However, that was mainly with a knife, and even then, I could barely keep up with his skill. Each slice, each block parry or flourish, was something hard-won by myself. The sound of metal clashing against metal echoing out, ringing in my ears with each clash. I found myself panting through it all while I tried to make the blade dance like he did.

The weight and extra length of my blade constantly making me mess up, it was clear that I had no chance of winning against this man, that he could have quickly finished me off long ago, but he kept going. The bruises and cuts were forming on my skin, each one a new sensation of pain that I hadn't felt before there. Each time the edge of his blade cut along my shoulder, it elicited a gasp of pain from the initial blow, which was usually followed by a few hisses as it still stung afterward.

I could tell that Castellan could have ended this at any time he wanted, but he was purposefully dragging it out, trying to inflict as much pain on me as possible or some reason. Keeping himself just reserved enough that it didn't look like one-sided bullying. His eyes bore into me, cold and cruel, just daring me to give in. Give up, let him win after putting me through intense pain, but I couldn't! I wouldn't give this up until I had no choice! In his confidence and arrogance, Castellan had made a mistake in this whole plot to subject me to the business end of his blade. He had given me time to think.

As the man pushed me around the rink, I noticed we were on pretty fine gravel and sand. Useful for keeping your footing, of course, no slick surfaces to lose yourself on though as I slid my feet across the gravel, there were rough patches. Excellent. I let the man lead me into a pattern of left-right-left parrying, repeating that pattern for a few exchanges, leading him to a rough patch of sand at the same time I knew Castellan would mix it up and attack from the supposed unexpected angle only to meet my blade there. I placed both my hands on the grip to resist him, hold our blades in place, but I wasn't going to kid myself. I was a 12-year-old girl up against a 19-year-old man, the gap in our physical strengths was tremendous, a giant canyon that I couldn't hope to overcome.

I couldn't help but stare into Castellan's eyes, boring down into me while he pushed forward, daring me to give up. Give in, let myself be humiliated by this man, let the former goddess lose on her first spar too bad for him, that wasn't the plan at all. I braced against his blade, resisting it as I was pushed down. Onto one knee, my other leg tensed up like a spring, perfect.

Releasing my non-dominant hand from the blade while bracing my other arm harder against Castellan, I swiftly scooped some of the gravel into my hands. I flung it upwards into Castellan's eyes, making him flinch back for a second as he was blinded. His blade going off-center for an instant, it was all I needed

"Gah a good trick, but can you cap-" The man's lecture was cut off by me springing forward, my knee raised high as I slammed it between his legs as hard as possible. I put all my demigod strength behind it, making Castellan yelp out in surprise and squeeze his knees together, collapsing to his own knees while tears welled up in his eyes in pain. I got back to my standing position quickly and swiftly brought my blade to the side of his neck.

"I win." I stared at Luke, panting a bit. My cuts were bleeding, letting red streaks run down my arms as I pointed up at the man's neck I hoped it only added to the image as my cabin mates started to boo me for some reason.

"That was a cheap move, Annabeth!"

"Yeah! Where is the honor in that?"

"That doesn't count! You should be disqualified for that sort of thing!"

What? I...I just won, and they were booing me for it? No! I had done something incredibly hard and right. Using battle strategy and they were just...Chiding me for it?! I let loose a growl before turning to them. "Well, I'm sorry! I didn't know there were rules when you wanted to survive! That's what we are here to do, right?! Train to survive? I don't know about you, but most monsters I know don't give a single piece of hellhound shit about honor or cheap moves! If you see a weak point, you go for it, or else you die!" I flicked my sword then, yelling at the cabin that was looking at me with disdain now, only Mr.M seemed to be apprehensive about this, his eyes flickering to Castellan now and then. I could see all of them tense up, their blades ready for defense, and recalled my conversation with M earlier that day.

"I can't help but get a bad feeling when I stare at him, it's the same feeling I get when I look at y-" They were feeling it now, the feeling when a monster was about to attack them. A bad feeling in their guts because I was the equivalent to a monster in my mother's eyes! I was dangerous enough that they instinctively wanted to avoid me, and I was just now showing them that violent side.

"If you can't see the wisdom in that, why are you even in Athena's cabin?" I screamed, looking to Castellan, who had the decency to make his face look sympathetic towards me at least, but his eyes twinkled with amusement. He may have lost the fight, but he had managed to turn the cabin against me even more than they had before. Blinking away tears of frustration from my eyes, I stormed off towards the armory.

"Annabeth! What do you think you're doing!? We still have half an hour of practice left!" My head counselor screamed at me, and I just threw him a hand gesture that I had seen the Ares kids use plenty of times before when talking to him. I didn't know exactly what it meant, but it seemed to get the point across as I put away my blade and ran off towards the woods. Towards the river where I would meet up with my friends, the only two friends I had in this damn camp, knowing how Castellan seemed to hate me, I doubted that Percy would want to be my friend any longer and with him leaving, so would Grover.

That thought made me shudder a bit, I had spent months preparing for this. A week building a sweet friendship with the boy, and it all came crashing down in a day because I gave the Hermes counselor a swift knee to the testicles. I should have just let him win, it would have been easy! Just let my blade fall out of my grip, then he has me in a fatal position, but no! I couldn't just let that happen! I had to win! I had to! Letting out a small sob, I curled up a bit...Why was I feeling so bad about this? About making them angry about losing Percy and Grover? They were just...Just stupid mortals! I stayed there, curled up for I don't know how long before I heard the grass crunching behind me.

"So I heard you kicked Luke in the nuts to win a fight..." It was Percy, of course, it was Percy. I looked to him, my eyes must have looked red and swollen from the tears. I looked at his pursed lips, afraid to go higher and see the disappointment and maybe anger that was sure to be in his eyes

"And? Are you going to be angry about me doing it like the rest of my cabin?" He shook his head, sitting down so fast I didn't get a chance to look away from his eyes as they looked into mine, his own swirling with some sympathy, amusement, and that same protective anger that I saw this morning.

"I didn't hear anything about your cabin being a bunch of pricks to you for that. Now I kinda want to yell at them too.." I chuckled a bit, the idea of this scrawny 12-year-old screaming down a bunch of kids, half of them older than him, an excellent image in my mind.

"Glad I could at least produce that. Listen, Annabeth, I know what you feel like right now. To have no one on your side, to have everyone watch you take the fall from the sidelines. So I am not going to do that to you. I don't know if you've noticed, but I find it a little hard to let go." That made me smile, just a little bit.

"So, I guess I am stuck with you, eh? What about Castellan? Didn't he tell you off about me or something?" He shrugged, looking towards the lake with an amused look in his eyes.

"Oh, he told me to stay away from you, especially after today. Said you were a dirty fighter, but I was like nope. You risked your life to help Grover that night, you risk your popularity every day by talking to me at all." he flashed me a small grin, a new expression, one of a troublemaker.

"Yep, me and you are stuck like glue. The least I can do is risk him being a little angry at me for hanging around you. Besides, in a fight, protecting your nuts is like 101, the basics. Wear a cup or something, because honestly, I would go for that shot when given the opportunity as well. It's how you fight in the real world."

"That's exactly what I said! But no, the whole cabin was getting angry at me for saying that." I took a deep breath before letting it out with a smile on my face.

"Well, that wasn't very wise of them. You gotta use every advantage you can in a fight." I nodded eagerly, and the two of us started to talk more. The pain I was feeling dissipating from my chest as I really took in that Percy wasn't going to be leaving anytime soon, at least not of his own volition. If only I knew the dangers that soon lay on the horizon for us, I might have savored this moment a little more.


	5. An outlandish claim

Capture the flag, it was a strange tradition that I had only seen once, and I had to admit it wasn't the most fun. Running around in the woods with a bunch of bloodthirsty teenagers trying to get something dumb as a flag? Yeah, no, that wasn't my sort of fun. Though, I supposed that was before I had friends to revel in the victory with, or enemies to want to see crushed beneath my foot. Now I had both I supposed, though said enemies and friends were in the same cabin so I couldn't fulfill both desires at once. Hopefully, that would change soon.

The two days after the whole "Castellan's Coconut's" incident, and most of the camp still hadn't gotten over it, which sucked majorly as I went around. Some of the other campers cupping their crotches mockingly at me, trying to taunt me. Their snickering was annoying, but it was fun to watch their eyes widen in fear as I cracked walnuts in my bare hands in front of them and ate from the shell. The yelp of a few Apollo campers, still somehow harmonizing with each other, was something I would revel in for a while. Thankfully, a few people seemed to agree with my assessment that "anything goes in a fight" and had decided that managing to beat Luke at all was an impressive feat.

So that was nice, some kids from the Hephestus cabin and Dionysus's kids seemed to stick by my side. Castor, in particular, told me that confusing his opponents by giving them maddening hallucinations for a few seconds for a critical opening was one of his favorite tricks to use mid-battle. I decided that I really liked the twins after that. It was too bad they were going to be on Ares's side today, I would have loved to work their powers of chlorokinesis and madness induction into a strategy of mine. But whatever, tonight, I would be focused on keeping Percy from getting his potus from being kicked too badly.

Speaking of a certain fish boy, he currently ran up beside me, his armor looking a size too big, and he had a shield and sword that didn't seem to fit in his hands at all. Especially the blade, he kept adjusting his grip on the handle, as if he was trying to get used to the weight. That was bad.

"So, what are we doing? I never got the chance to be debriefed, just that I was stuck on border patrol. Whatever that means." I raised an eyebrow at that, putting a newbie on an important role like border patrol? I had been here a week, and even I knew that wasn't common.

"It's easy enough, keep the enemy from crossing the border with the flag or at all really. The border is...the...creek." The creek would certainly give Percy power, the rumor of his excellent defeat of Luke yesterday had spread far, and well, my friend had told me about the incident that day, feeling completely bad about the incident for some reason. Of course, I knew that the water dump had energized Percy, and I had seen him work his magic on the bathrooms on his first day, so of course, I would put him near water, but...No one else was supposed to know that.

"Annabeth? Are you doing alright? You went silent suddenly. The border is the creek, right? You're not remembering things wrong?" Percy's worried tone snapped me out of my haze before I nodded.

"Yeah, just thinking. Anyways, just keep people from going over the border, and we will end up fine. I will do my best to cover you. Keep yourself from looking too stupid out there, won't you?" He shrugged with a playful smirk dancing on his face.

"I'll try, but making myself look stupid is kinda my specialty."

"I thought that was accidentally causing wanton destruction? Or do I need to bring up the cannon incident again?" He shrugged with that same smile on his face, though his cheeks were dusted with a very light pink.

"What can I say? I'm a multi-talented guy, a true Donatello man" I snorted at his joke, only to be met with a stare.

"Percy, do you mean renaissance man?" He shook his head again, and it was my turn to be confused.

"No, I was talking about the giant talking turtle. But that works too, I guess." His tone told me he was completely serious, what the Hades were mortals thinking up these days? Shaking my head as my lips started to curl up on each corner, I just fell back, letting him go ahead.

"Hey Percy, a little advice. If you feel like you are on the losing side of a fight, get into the creek!" He just gave me that classic confused look, then I put on my cap, discarding the mandatory shield and armor I had only loosely put on for ease of removal. He seemed to understand something, before nodding and heading his way to the creek once more.

My style required stealth, dexterity, and precision. All of which were hard to achieve while wearing that stuff. I was less protected sure, but well, I had a suspicion that Percy was the person that was going to need the defense more than I would tonight. Soon enough, my hand fell to the sheath on my hip, gripping the wooden handle with a smile.

Sneaking myself around, I followed him and heard the loud screeching of a half-dozen banshees as at least half of the Ares Cabin, maybe more came charging out of the woods. Their voices causing a slight ringing in my ears, and I had to hold back a growl to not give away my position as they encroached upon a nervous Percy.

While the six idiots started to attack my friend in turn, Clarisse, in particular, using that electric spear of hers to disable his shield arm, I charged in.

Moving lightly on my feet towards the person on at the farthest back, who seemed to have a cruel sneer on his face, and was right about to go in for his turn at Percy when I drew my blade, a wooden facsimile of a bronze dagger with no edge on it, and wet paint along the outsides. Leaping forward quickly, I got up on the kid's back and drew my knife along his neck, leaving a red mark of paint right along his throat. I moved swiftly, efficiently like a Panther, ending the fight in a single move.

"You're dead, now go to jail," I whispered into his ear before dropping and deciding to charge at my next target, the old one reluctantly sighing before he nodded and headed his way off to jail as I was already on the move. My eyes occasionally flickered back to Percy, who was still surrounded by four people with highly dangerous weapons, and from the gash on his arm, they weren't using edgeless weapons like I was here.

The next girl was about to strike at my friend once more when I made my move, leaping from my position I grasped the woman's hair and pulled back as my blade slashed across her neck, elegant, simple, and deadly. The force was enough to stop the swing of the sword and only made the Ares camper push Percy into the creek with a loud splash before she reluctantly turned around. Admitting defeat when beaten fair and square.

Looking towards the creek, I smirked, seeing Percy standing in the middle of it, the remaining three campers seemingly not noticing their falling ranks as Percy fended them off all on his own. Flowing from one movement to the other like water blocking one strike while he slammed the hilt of his sword onto another's head, stunning the young man and making him stumble back right onto my waiting blade. I drove the fake wooden right into his back to leave a remarkable dent in his skin, but not piercing through, just enough to let the guy know if this was real combat, he would be dead right now.

Deciding to concede, the young man went off to join his cabinmates in jail just as Percy slammed the flat of his blade against another kid's head, the sharp clang ringing out throughout the forest as the kid stumbled back a few steps before he slipped and fell right on his butt into the water, leaving only Clarisse to fight. I playfully flipped my wooden dagger in my hands, thankful for the Hephaestus kid, Beckendorf, I think who had helped me sand it down to the current state and even helped make the paint lined sheath in two days for my purposes.

Clarisse looked red as a tomato with rage, looking around to see all of her back-ups had fallen. She focused right on Percy, taking him the sole reason they were gone and let out a furious cry. Then brought her spear for a brutal thrust, one that would undoubtedly have maimed Percy badly if I didn't interfere, dashing forward, not caring about the noise I made. I brought the blade forward to slash at the back of her neck, take her out as far as the game went before she could seriously harm Percy.

Percy didn't need my help there, though, as he moved naturally and quickly, bringing up his sword and shield to catch the shaft between the two, right before the spear reached his chest and snapped the wooden shaft with a sharp crack, echoing throughout the forest.

"You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!" Ooh, that really riled Clarisse up. I was looking forward to what other insults she had for Percy when he slammed the butt of his sword against her head, making her stumble back in a daze before slipping and falling to the ground. Smiling at that, I removed the cap, my form appearing once more, and I nodded to Percy with a small smile on my face.

"Told you, I would cover ya, didn't I?" I playfully twisted the dagger in my hands as I saw an Apollo camper rushing over the creek, covered by a barrage of arrows headed for the Hephestus campers chasing after him few of them letting out little whizzing noises as they sailed through the air. The flag was in his hand, and I nodded to them. Percy looked between me and the banner, his eyes widening a bit in amazement as it shimmered from the ugly blood red and turned bright gold, the Boar's head becoming an arrow crossed with a Lyre, the symbols of Apollo.

"Did...Did you plan that?" There was a tinge of anger in his voice, and I shrugged, not sure what to tell him because I didn't plan it out really, my cabin wouldn't have listened if I tried to announce a plan like that, and the Hermes cabin certainly wouldn't listen to me.

"Not really, I may have let the Apollo kids know that my friend had managed to piss off a lot of Ares campers. That they were likely to focus on him, leaving the flag vulnerable. But really, it wasn't planned." I hoped that would appease Percy.

"You used me as bait then? I wish you would have told me about the plan. Would have been helpful to know." I then pointed to the Ares campers that I had "killed" tonight with my dagger.

"Maybe, but it wasn't like I didn't back you up, right? Did you notice your opponents dropping like flys? That's cause I took em out as you kept them distracted. Pretty good combo if I do say so myself." He shrugged, conceding to my point, I guessed, smiling at me, and I returned it...This felt nice, having a friend. I liked it...Suddenly, I felt my skin prickle up, all the hairs standing on end, and a shiver being sent down my spine.

Then I heard a harsh growl from the woods and screams from behind us as I turned to see the beady, blood-red eyes of a hellhound staring us down. Its eyes boring right into Percy. Shit! "Percy! Run!" I started to dash forward, cursing as I realized I only had the wooden dagger on me, I hadn't planned for any demon dogs to show up!

"Ready my bow!" Chiron's voice echoed through the clearing as the dog pounced at Percy, and desperate to do something to save the boy that I had promised to get to 16. I threw my dagger hard as I could at the thing's eye, hitting it square in the iris, making the dog flinch back slightly in pain as its claws rendered Percy's armor and chest, pulling back it's paw a little as it reeled. Instead of making Percy shredded seaweed, it just made three large gashes on his chest that started to bleed profusely. At least he wasn't instantly dead, right?

"Get to the water! It healed you before, right?" Percy stumbled a bit, his breathing clearly quickening in fear as he stared at the gashes on his chest. I could imagine the pure terror in his eyes before a dozen arrows imbedded themselves into the monster's body before it dissolved into dust. Rushing forward, ignoring the mumblings and talk of the hellhound, I grasped my friend to steady him some.

"I'm fine. I'm fine, right?" I cringed a bit, feeling the hot, sticky blood staining my shirt, the liquid soaking through the fabric easily as I shook my head, bringing him along to the creek and helping him in. Watching as the water started to heal his chest, the wounds quickly closed up and healing in seconds, and I sighed, thank Zeus, that worked.

What happened a second later shouldn't have been a surprise, no one could really deny it. A giant, glowing holographic trident appeared above Percy's head. I had seen it a few times before, but it was still amazing how much of a show claiming usually was. I bowed with everyone else with Chiron's speech. Percy was the Son of Poseidon, and all of the campers now knew it.

For the next few days, I wasn't able to see much of Percy sadly. Our schedules didn't coincide at all, and as much as I disliked hanging around a bunch of people that literally felt like I was a monster. I couldn't really defy them constantly, and my counselor made our schedules precisely so that all Athena kids had nothing to do with Percy. Even removing my position as his greek tutor! "Mom wouldn't appreciate us fraternizing with a Sea Spawn. I shoulda known a kid like that was dangerous, had the look of nothing but destruction. Guess that lies in his name, though." That, combined with his cruel chuckle, made it really hard to resist breaking the man's jaw and giving him the Castellan treatment.

The only contact I had with my friend was vicariously through Grover, who had managed to finagle his way into my arts and crafts class every time I had it. "Please tell him that I really, really want to be close to him. Caleb has practically forbidden all of us from even looking at Percy." Grover nodded, I looked over, he looked like he was creating a new set of reed pipes for some reason.

"Will do, I'm sure he will appreciate you're thinking about him. I wish I could do more to help, but I'm just a satyr, not good enough to actually comfort my best friend, it seems. Especially when he is probably going to get a quest soon." I raised an eyebrow at his little grumbling. Why was he going on a- oh yeah. Zeus was probably pretty pissed about the Master Bolt thing and would be accusing Poseidon now.

"How long do we have?" He let out a choked bleat, the sound would have been humorous if not for our main topic.

"Probably until the Solstice, listen Annabeth, I need...I need you to go along and help protect him. Percy won't want a cowardly, useless satyr-like me coming but you. I think he will want you along though. You are the best friend he has ever had." I rolled my eyes, looking down at the reed pipes he was carefully making, obviously preparing for something big.

"Grover, I agree that Percy would want his best friend coming to support him." He nodded. "And that's you, not me. Grover, you are that Seaweed Brain's best friend in the whole world and always will be."

"That's impossible, though. I lost him in the City, I found him too late, I am the reason he wasn't able to make it to camp in time! I was the reason that his mother died! He must hate me like Luke and Malcolm do." I raised an eyebrow, and he mournfully gestured to half blood hill. Oh. Still, I shook my head.

"You are also the one who made sure he was able to survive last year to get to camp. You are the only person who has stayed as his friend for more than a few months. You are the person that he goes to when he is insecure. I bet he told you a lot about crushes and stuff when you were at Yancy, right?" He shook his head with a small laugh.

"Not crushes no, Percy isn't really the romantic type. He did give me the details on his candy smuggling operation and gave me two free Reese's per week, though, said it was "payment for putting up with him" like I would ever need that."

"Reese's? Is that some kind of mortal snack?" I swear I saw Grover's eyes bulge out of his head at that.

"You've never had Reese's? What kind of food do they have upon Olympus? I thought it was supposed to have like, godly feasts up there, but here you are missing out on the perfect blend of Chocolate, Peanut butter, and Wax Paper that is Reese's Peanut butter cup." He shook his head in disbelief, and I grinned at him.

"Ok, I get it. Anyways he gave you free food and trusted you with his secrets. That's the point. Percy trusts you, and I bet that he will ask you to go on the quest with him. So, make sure you have those reed pipes ready soon, ok?" I stood up with a small smile on my face, looking around to make sure no one was watching and put on my cap and headed off towards Cabin Three. I needed to see Percy's schedule, plan when I could sneak away to see and talk to him.

The few times I had managed to see him, walking from one activity to the other over the past few days, Percy looked absolutely miserable, almost as bad as the day he came into camp. When his entire world had collapsed around him, and he had been ripped away from everything he knew and placed into a new world. I supposed this was a similar circumstance, and I wanted to be there for him again. I wanted to stay friends with him, I didn't quite get it, but I felt a lump in my throat when I saw him so sad so...I wanted to help fix that.

Getting into the cabin, I cringed a little bit, seeing the messy cabin that was Percy's. How was I supposed to find anything in here? Looking around it, though, I noticed he had a nightstand with the correct schedule on it, and I hummed reading it before nodding. I would check in with him at around five-ish, that was when I had a free hour, and he was supposed to be at the beach. Turning to slip out, I almost let out a yelp seeing Percy come in. His face broody again, though his eyes had a small spark in them. Cautiously I stepped away from the nightstand, thankfully the wood didn't creak under my weight.

"Well, at least she is thinking of me, I don't think I have had any friends like that before... I wish I had never been claimed, then we could still hang out." He growled to himself as he made his way to the bed, mind wandering with my own musings. So Grover had told him about our talk, that was good. Percy needed to know that there were "people in his corner" that was the correct phrase, right? Then the boy looked towards the trashcan, I could only catch a glimpse of his eyes from my position, but there was a look of pure, unadulterated hatred towards the paper inside. I still wasn't that good at reading modern English, but I caught something about a missing woman and a delinquent son. That wasn't good; looking back to Percy, I saw his hands shaking, and tears starting to form in his eyes. Through if these actions were from rage or sorrow, I didn't know, however, I was sure that I wanted to stop it.

Quickly I removed the cap from my head and approached, putting a hand on his shoulder gently. The boy promptly whipped around, his body going into what could be seen as a fighting stance, his eyes sparking with conflict before he seemed to realize who I was. "Annabeth! How...When did you...Did you watch me sleep?" He was half curious, half sheepish and half-embarrassed, at least he wasn't raging like before.

"I have been in here for about five minutes, I came in to check on your schedule and see when I could sneak off to see you. I've missed your porpoise headed style of commentary in my life. No, I didn't watch you sleep this time." He seemed to relax a bit before he let out a confused hum.

"This time?"

"Yes, who do you think was looking after you during those days you were passed out?" He looked stunned but just nodded.

"Well then, uh, thank you for that? Not letting me die and stuff, that was pretty cool."

"It felt like it at the moment, sometimes I regret it though, cause now I feel like I'm bound to keep you alive from now on."

"I would appreciate it if you did. I kind of like being alive, it's the only state where I can get a good bite to eat." As we spoke, he seemed to stand a bit straighter, amusement replacing his anger slowly while we chatted.

"Speaking of, do you have a watch? I can't tell you what time it is, but at around five-ish, I have my free time and you go to the beach. We can have a chat, I can bring snacks." My lips curled up as he groaned some.

"I mean, I was going to take a nap, like right now. Last I checked it was around five, was going to just mark myself present and go to sleep for a bit, Luke was ruthless with training today." I felt my skin prickle a bit at the mention of Hermes' boy, so he was still hanging around Percy, even out of his cabin? I wanted to say something but bit my tongue, I had to admit Castellan was a superb swordsman, and Percy would need every bit of training he could get for the quest and well...Being the Son of Poseidon, instead, I opted to turn and start sauntering out.

"Ok, your choice. Though I was going to bring my secret stash of huckleberries, those half tart, blue berries are so good when dried." I looked over my shoulder, emphasizing the world blue as I spoke it. From his body language, I could tell he was hooked.

"You have access to blue food? Why have you been holding out on me then?!" There was a slight whine to his voice that made me giggle some.

"Because I only have the one bag, and I wanted to save it for when you really needed to be cheered up, and my own oratory skills weren't enough." His eyes then darted a few times between his soft, unmade bed. Ripe and ready for a nap, and me, with the siren's song of blue food beckoning him to spend an hour at the beach with me.

"Well, I guess I will meet you down at the beach then um...Wise Girl?" I groaned, he ruined the friendship moment.

"Please, do not call me that. I don't want to be associated with my mother any more than I have to." His face erupted in a small blush.

"Oh, of course, then something with your dad...What about...Hothead?" Hmm, I repeated the words in my head a few times before nodding.

"Perfect."


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, here we are again, I hope you guys like it, and please leave me comments and feedback so I know how to improve for next time

Waiting for the call for a quest was horrible. I knew that it was going to happen, I knew that Percy would be sent on a quest to retrieve the Master Bolt to stop a potential war. I knew that I would be going along with him, because I wasn't going to be abandoning my friend anytime soon, even if I didn't have the goal of making sure he survived for the Prophesy I only knew about half of, not even that. All I knew was that he had a choice to make at sixteen that would save or destroy Olympus. That wasn't exactly descriptive, but it was better than going into the future completely blind, right?

Finally, like a day after my talk with Percy down by the beach, Grover came to me during a riding lesson. I was just about to hop on the pegasus when the clip-clop of his hooves alerted me to his presence—the young satyr hugging and panting a little bit. "Alright, it's time. Percy just went...Ah, just went to see the Oracle. He should be down pretty soon, you need any debrief about what where we are going?" Finally.

"We are going to L.A., Right? The hellhounds serve Hades, he would have known who Percy was from the moment he was revealed as a half-blood. Maybe even sooner, if the other two members of the big three are at war, he is the only one who could benefit, right?" I jumped down from the pegasus in a smooth motion, making sure I had everything on me. Invisibility cap, check. Dagger? Check. Time to go to the store and get the backpacks, and we should be good.

"Er, yeah, I think so...Are you absolutely sure that you want me along, though? I am sure that Clarisse or Luke would be the better choice, they can actually fight and probably navigate better than I ever could." I rolled my eyes as I started to walk, why was he so self-destructive? Looking back at him, I nodded. Grover really needed to get a confidence boost, maybe introduce one of the nymphs to him? Thoughts for after the quest.

"No, we are not taking Castellan or Clarisse. The former hates me, and the latter hates Percy. Besides, you have something that no one else at camp does. Or well, no demigod does, at least."

"What is that? A guilt complex?"

"No, I'm pretty sure that Percy has one of those as well, but you can smell out where the monsters are. You can alert us to threats trying to hide as mortals, and you can perform nature magic, which is much better than a third fighter." I grinned at him, rushing to the store to grab the questing supplies as he went to meet with Chiron again.

I managed to wrangle three people's worth of old supplies, thankful that ambrosia and nectar didn't expire and the money they could spare us. I had no idea how much the hundred dollars was worth, but twenty Drama was sizable when we would mainly be using them for I.M.s.

"Twenty calls back here, huh? That's quite a bit, thank you for this umm..." I grasped the money in my hands, letting the bag of coins jangle a bit in my hand a little.

"Cecil, and don't worry about it at all Annabeth, my dad would be ashamed if I let y'all go without proper packing. Just make sure that you give them monsters a couple good shots to the soft spot out there, will ya?" Looking at him again, I noticed that he had the same elfish features as all the Hermes kids, which was strange. I thought that all the Hermes campers would hate me after what happened with Luke.

"Thanks, I guess I am sorry for what happened with-" He shook his head and held up a hand.

"If you are talking about the nutshot, don't worry about it. Hermes is a trickster god, in our cabin, it's encouraged to use your wits and all you have available to survive and win. Luke should've been expecting a shot like that, you did good there alright." The older camper smiled and pat my shoulder a few times before I nodded and turned to leave, maybe I had more allies here in the camp than I thought. Racing through the valley towards the big house where Percy and Grover were waiting.

"And who else would be dumb enough to go on this quest?" Percy's exasperated face and a slight look of fear with my approach told me there was something wrong. Did he suspect I was here to kill him or harm him or something? Perish the thought!

"Probably the same person dumb enough to stick around your Seaweed Brain, even when you ask the same question about Theseus twenty times," I smirked, and saw a little relief wash over him before he tensed again. What did I do?

"It's not my fault that the image of the Minotaur wearing fruit of the looms is burned into my retinas! I needed to know if his fashion choices stayed consistent throughout the millennia! Like, what even would be the equivalent back in ancient Greece?" I rolled my eyes, was he really asking this question again? How did he expect me to know? I have only been around for 500 years give or take a few decades for Pete's sake!

"I told you, I don't know, nor do I want to know that. As for what was the equivalent, then he was probably wearing a loincloth or something. I admit I don't know as much about bull men as I wish I did." Chiron stomped his hoof twice to get our attention while coughing quite loudly.

"Children, now while this discussion is...Interesting, I suppose you two can have it on the way to L. A. Right? Time is of the essence, and we don't have time to dilly dally around." I connected eyes with Percy and shrugged before nodding.

"Annabeth, are you sure you want to go? I don't know what happens when I am going to die, much less what would happen with you as a mortal now. If I fail, you will be giving up forever. You will be giving up living forever, most likely." I gently smiled at him before I walked over, and playfully punched his arm.

"You're the one who said it before Percy, you and me? We are stuck together like glue. I'm not leaving you alone to flail around in the world without seeing it myself. "You, me, and Grover. We are going to get the bolt and stop a war, now come on. I have been dying to get out of this camp from the day I got here.

I gave him a small smile before going to crest the hill, passing through the barrier, taking a look back to see Castellan talking with him, a pair of shoes in hand. Shoes that could sprout wings and allow the user to fly! Well, that was useful but probably bad for Percy. We needed to avoid flying at all costs right now because of everything going on, and Percy's heritage well...I think except for when we are riding pegasi? I needed to review my godly politics on that, but horses and pegasi were both creations of the sea god, so I think they fell under his domain? Oh, it looked like he was giving them to Grover. Yeah, that would work.

As Grover activated the magic and started to um...Well, his feet began to fly while he was dragged along with them. I couldn't help but let out a laugh before shaking my head."Ok, check that we have everything we need one last time before going on the killer quest. Dagger?" My hand went to the sheath and pulled it out, doing a few practice swings twisting and turning the dagger as I did so, it was a little bit bottom heavy. But I could adjust to it quickly enough, it was the best I was going to get for now. "Check. Cap?" Putting my blade away, my hand drifted to the hat, now with a magnetic clip that attached to my jeans' belt loops made by my friend Beckondorf for easy access during a fight. "Check."

"Grover! Do you have those new pipes ready?" I called out to him, and in response, got the shrill, jerky sound of a Satyr playing their instrument while being pulled along by their shoes. "Check, I guess." I then bounced my backpack some; this had enough stuff to keep a half-blood going for a while, I hoped. "Now, Percy...Does he have a weapon?" Looking down at the approaching boy, there wasn't any sheath or indication he was carrying a blade or anything. That wouldn't do.

"Um Percy, don't you think you should get like, a sword or something to fight off the monsters? We can't exactly be on the lookout for you the entire time." I looked to Chiron, who only seemed to chuckle before shaking his head while Percy gets a dinky little pen out of his pocket and nodded.

"It's a disguised sword; I think this is what I used to kill , so it's pretty effective. At least against demonic Math Teachers, which is redundant, I think." I was about to ask more, but I decided against it. I could probably get into an hour-long discussion about how math was, in fact, not a demonic art, but we honestly just didn't have the time.

"It's only spiteful to those who reject math, Percy. You'll come along to the true path eventually."

"Never! Math is a demonic art! Why are you even interested in Math? I thought that the mortal mumbo jumbo was foreign to you." I rolled my eyes as we walked down the hill, it seemed like this discussion was unavoidable after all.

"Percy, I am a goddess of Architecture, Trigonometry, and Geometry are like, literally coded into my DNA. Well, not literally because gods don't have DNA, but you get what I mean."

"I really don't. I don't really want to either." Shaking my head, I decided to blow a raspberry in his face before running off towards the van that would take us into the outside world, trying to hold in a bit of my excitement at the prospect, despite our trip's circumstances. Percy chasing after me with laughter on his lips.

Once on the van and headed into the city, I demanded I get one of the window seats to look out into the world. Into the mortal realm of New York City, all the buildings looking different, unique from one another, rising up into the sky, some higher than any of the temples up on . A lot of them slightly lit up with Neon lights, all of them drawing my eye to them. My nose was practically pressed against the glass the whole time, murmuring to myself about what every little place could be based on the name, what could be in it. If it was worth visiting...

"What, have you never been to New York before? I thought you lived up on , that's...Above the Empire State Building, right?" Hearing Percy's voice again, I shot him a look of disdain from distracting me from taking in everything about I could about the world I had spent 550 years just observing.

"If you must know, I have not. My mother kept me looked upon Olympus like...Rapunzel, I think, is a good analogy. She had me locked up like Rapunzel up in my ivory tower, and I always wanted to come down here and...And explore it all, I am probably going to be stuck up there again after the five years are up." I paused and looked at my two friends. Who looked to each other as if I wasn't even there.

"So we gotta show her around the city, right?" Percy said with a small smile on his face. Grover nodding along instantly.

"Right, after the quest?"

"We can't exactly spare the time to do so while we are on it, can we Goat boy?" Grover let out an irritated bleat at the nickname but nodded.

"Of course, Though, I don't know how you will convince Chiron to let us out. Especially before the summer session ends." Percy just shrugged.

"I don't think it will be that big of a deal. Besides, we can't show her literally everything in a few days, gotta let the seasons shift and stuff. Let her experience all that NYC has to offer."

"Should I make a planning list? All the tourist traps? Get them out of the way first, then we work on the real New York?" I looked between Grover and Percy, catching onto what they were talking about... Were they really going to be taking me places?

"Nah, dude. You know me, planning never goes well. Remember that I tried to superglue 's desk drawers shut and managed to glue myself to the desk? We had planned out a perfect time, perfect everything, position glue, down to the smallest detail, but then when it came to the execution..."

"No plan ever survives an encounter with Percy, yes. I remember like, half the field trip itineraries becoming void because of you, and not just the MET trip either! Like, you even managed to mess up a trip to the Public Library! How you managed to make like, the entire section on owls and architecture collapse on you, much less how you survived I don't know."

"That was probably my mother. Sorry about her, for some reason she really hates you." I rolled my eyes at my mother's actions. Really? Collapsing books on a twelve-year-old? And she tried to pretend she was this all-knowing, wise goddess or something like that.

"Why is that? I don't think I have done anything to insult her; I mean other than being born, but you can't really blame me for that, can you?" I let out a puff of air from my nose, thinking back to the Athena Cabin members, and how they all felt like he was a danger to them when he had done literally nothing to them.

"Your dad did, though. Poseidon is a rival to her."

"The Athens contest, right? The Spring and um...Olive tree?" I perked up a little, so he was paying attention to our lessons! Even when his eyes seemed to glaze over from the facts, which was often.

"Right, your dad created a saltwater spring which mind you, was endless. While my mother created the Olive tree. There was a vote, and my mother won; she likes to say it was the obvious choice, but then again, entire wars have been fought over salt, and just by letting the stuff from the Spring sit out in the sun for a few hours and boom! You have as much salt as you want. When was the last time you ever heard of wars being fought over olive trees, huh?" The sky rumbled again, but I smirked a bit and smiled up at the skyline, I could see the Empire State Building from here, or at least I hope it was that.

"Man, it would be great if the gods were allowed to directly interfere in their kid's lives, huh, mom? Because then you could provide as many olives as we could eat out here." Percy seemed to smile at my tone, a that was good. Though he looked a little apprehensive at what I said.

"The gods aren't allowed to help their kids?" His tone of voice made me a little cautious, but I nodded.

"Yeah, they aren't allowed to show favoritism one way or the other. At least not directly, some gods try to bend the rules as much as they can. I don't know if Poseidon is like that, but maybe he is." Grover, who had been silent for a while, decided to speak up nervously.

"So, as much as I would love to continue insulting the gods who are watching us at this very moment. Probably judging all of our actions, I do not to be smitten before we even get on the bus to L.A." I chuckled and shrugged, deciding to move onto the less sacrilegious topic of things I haven't been to.

"Yeah, so, I don't think I have ever seen a proper Christmas, Thanksgiving, had a good Birthday party or anything that the other campers are talking about." I sighed a bit, I knew that I missed out on a lot upon , but...Well, I never thought of exactly how much I had missed until I had talked with Castor and Pollux and their giant Italian thanksgivings with like thirty people, all joyous family that was tightly wound, and I couldn't help but feel...Jealous of them, I guessed.

"Yeah...Thanksgiving, that's not all it's cracked up to be." Percy spoke up, looked to him with curiosity in my eye, and had a wonderful, loving mother. Why wouldn't he like that holiday? Made no sense in her eyes. "But, I guess as long as you are going to be a demigod... Yeah, I promise that I am going to show you as much as the mortal world as I can, ok? Well, if there is a mortal world after this summer." He grumbled, sounding a bit defeated, and I shook my head, hand going to his.

"There will be, we can't think negatively on this quest. We are going to go to the underworld, get back the bolt, and save everything, ok? Then...I will hold you to that promise, alright? You are going to be my guide to the mortal world." I pointed the finger at him, driving it into his chest for a bit before giving me a small smirk and nodding his head.

"And you are going to help me get through Algebra when I get to it, and maybe Trigonometry if I make it that far in school, though I doubt that will happen given my past history."

"I guess I'll be the guy who messes up everything in the end, then won't I?" Grover spoke up again, looking back at us from his seat, a small, but ] insecure smile on his face.

"No, you are going to be the person who reigns us two in when we are a bit too absurd for the world, you are the only one here with something resembling common sense G-man."

"Hey! I have sense, i know what to do and what not to do in almost every situation. I am a few centuries ahead of you in experience." I huffed a little, and Percy smiled as if I just walked into his trap.

"But that isn't exactly common, is it?" I rolled my eyes and let out a small sigh.

"I suppose not."

The rest of the drive was uneventful. Comparatively, that was fine. Percy, Grover and I filling the silence with our meaningless chatter, I was constantly asking about the various commodities that they enjoyed in the mortal world. Asking them to go into great detail about each and everything, Percy seemed to enjoy being the one in the know for once.

When we arrived at the Greyhound station, we found we could get a bus right to L.A., which was great! So, we booked our trip and waited around the station, playing a game that Percy and Grover had called "Hacky Sack" which was all about keeping something in the air as long as possible without using your hands. It was a lot of fun, bouncing one of Grover's apples between us until our Goat deceived he was famished and ate our sack in a huge goat bite. The feat was so impressive, I didn't even think to be mad through my laughter.

Soon enough, we were on the bus. Headed to the back where three seats were clumped together, and stored our luggage in the overhead compartment. Though I made sure to keep the hundred dollars and drachmae in my pockets. It felt safer there, I could access the stuff we needed at any time, so why store it up?

After a few minutes of waiting on the bus, three old ladies came onto the bus, and I saw Percy freeze up next to me. " , three of them..." What? The furies were here? Crap! As they sat down, my head went abuzz with a plan, shifting and trying to find a way out of the situation.

"Percy, take the cap and get out of here." He looked at me as if I was crazy.

"What? No, I am not leaving you to their mercy. Just one of them was bad enough to deal with for my year at Yancy. I can't imagine what three that actually want to kill me could do." He whispered to me in a resolute voice, and I suppressed a groan, of course now his noble nature would stop him from saving his own ass.

"You aren't going to, I promise just...Let's be like capture the flag again. You act as the distraction while Grover and I support you, ok? That means, for now, you go invisible, sneak away and find a way to distract them!" I gave him a whisper-yell before taking my cap off its hinge and placing it firmly on his head. Watching as his body vanished in an instant, Percy let out a small yelp as his body disappeared from sight.

Just then, the Furies decided to get up and walk towards us, and I could only hope that Percy was long gone by the time they were coming up. Their handbags morphing to long, fiery whips, sizzling with each crackle, and I had to hide a smirk. So they were going to be using fire against us, eh? The middle one stepped forward, her voice sounding like metal scraping against metal as her body morphed into its pure, monstrous form.

"Where is it! Where do you have the-" The demonic woman was cut off as the whole bus was suddenly jerked to the left, her body flying towards the window, smashing against it, caught by her wings. The lady looked like she was about to pounce on me, and I drew my dagger before the bus swerved again to the left and right, and I looked at the driver's seat, watching as the man wrestled against an invisible force. That was one way to cause a distraction, I supposed.

By the time we stopped, all the furies had looked battered and shocked about what was happened, Grover, being the bravest satyr ever. I started to throw tin cans at their heads, each landing with a loud bang, I was about to charge in with my celestial bronze when Percy decided to uncap himself, a new bronze sword in hand and waved at the monsters, throwing out taunts to catch their attention.

It was a good thing Percy was a natural force of chaos and destruction. It seemed because the monsters couldn't keep their attention off of him when there were the furies attacked by my friend. Their whips cracking with flames, one wrapping around Percy's wrist, thankfully my friend didn't drop his weapon and kept going as I leapt from my position and onto the leader's back. Wrapping my arms around her throat, my dagger jabbed into her side, making the woman screech with pain at each stab wound.

Leaving Percy to deal with the other two as I slipped down the monster's back, grasping her whip, the flames doing nothing more than adding a little warmth to my hand as I used it to tie her up and the three of us ran out the door as she was letting loose ear-shattering shrieks, no doubt calling for backup. We cleared the buss pretty quickly, and I turned back for a moment, remembering what we had left there.

The hairs on my skin raised up as we ran away from the bus, the bus containing everything that wasn't in our pockets. I was suddenly very glad I decided to keep the hundred dollars on me as a bolt of lightning ripped through the sky, lancing through the Greyhound, it must have stuck a fuel line or something, as the bus exploded in a massive fireball, making the muggy, slightly rainy New Jersey Shoreline bright as a clear, sunny day for a few moments.

"Our stuff! All of our food!" I heard Grover cry out in anguish looking at the bus, mournfully he started to ache on about how those were his best tin cans, saved for a special occasion to eat with friends. I was a little touched he thought this was a special occasion but mostly blanched on the idea of eating cans while we started to trudge our way into the forest of New Jersey, lost, and without any sense of where to go from here.


	7. My best friend dies

The woods of New Jersey sucked, like wow, was it horrible. They were in the middle of a soaking wet forest, cold. I was feeling hungry again, and for once, I wasn't able to actually just have access to food whenever I wanted! How did most mortals deal with this crap? I was used to being able to make my favorite foods appear whenever I wanted, and even after that. At Camp, whenever you were starving, you could get a snack at the store or some leftover brisket from lunch or dinner, so there was never a chance of going hungry.

"Alright, so do we have any idea where we can go? Because we need to go west, right? Does anyone even know where west is?" Grover's complaints were valid, and I looked up to see where the sun was, it should be on the latter half of its journey so...

"West is that way. With the sun, so we know that. I have no idea where north or south is yet, we don't have the stars out."

"You can navigate using the stars?" I gave Percy an arched eyebrow, surely he knew that's what sailors did before GPS, right? He coughed, clearly that wasn't worded right. "I mean like you know how to do that?" Oh, that made more sense.

"Yes, when you spend a few centuries stuck in the same place, with nothing to do but read and watch the stars, you tend to memorize them all. I got them all in my head now, so we shouldn't get lost too easily at night."

"Man you have an amazing memory, I can barely remember the state capitals most times. I guess it comes from being a Hothead, right?" I smiled as he trudged through the muddy woods. Glad that he had some humor despite our situation. I nodded, yeah, we were good. Hopefully, we wouldn't get lost during the daytime. Suddenly, a strange smell assaulted my nose, it smelt of peanuts, and of potatoes and beef. It was good, but I had no idea what it was.

"Ooh, snack bar!" I looked over to Percy, who had a bit of spit wetting his lips, so apparently, that smell meant that there was food. Good food from the ravenous way Percy looked at the door, ready to burst in and demand whatever they had there to eat.

"Well, I guess we do have a crisp hundred still on us, right? Should we spend it on tickets or get ourselves a decent meal?" I felt the bag of money weighing down on my chest as my stomach grumbled; we really should save the cash, but...Well, actually we could steal some money from this place. I smirked a bit.

"I say we get the meal, besides we can probably get a discount on it somehow, with how we are anyways."

"Who would give a discount to three kids in the middle of the woods, Annabeth? Though, we should probably get our stomachs full while we can..." Percy spoke, clearly oblivious to my implications. Oh, Percy, sweet, honest, and oblivious, Percy. I gave him a small smirk before patting my hat.

"I believe the Hermes kids call it the five finger discount Seaweed Brain. I'm sure a lot of them would have begged to use the hat. If they weren't held back by Castellan, that is." I expected him to object or something, Percy didn't seem like the type to go along with stealing, but his eyes just gained a glint of mischief. As we walked into the place.

"Need me to provide the distraction again? I am sure Grover and I could work something outright?" As we walked in, the smell seemed to wrap around me, enveloping my mind, drawing me forward, compelling my whole body to move along and find out the source of this wonderful scent.

"Eh, what? Oh, guys, I don't...I don't think we should go in there, it smells like monsters?" That briefly snapped me out of the haze I was in, though something in me was still trying to compel my body forward towards the silhouette of a woman standing a few yards away.

"And what exactly, is that smell?" Percy chimed in, I looked over, his eyes looked a little glazed over like he wasn't entirely there, I was going to mention it when another blast of the smell hit my nostrils, and I felt the hunger overtaking fear within me again.

"Like um...Underground, dirt, soil, mildew, and um something sour and something usually unique to that monster." He seemed nervous, his ears perking up and constantly twitching—nose taking brief little sniffs regularly, quivering.

"Isn't this place a gardening shop? You're probably just smelling the soil and stuff. No need to worry." I grinned at my friend, walking forward towards the woman, and as soon as we were within her sight. She perked up a bit.

"Oh, hello, darlings! What are you wonderful children doing here in my little neck of the woods?"

"We're orphans, traveling with a carnival. The ringmaster let us come out for a bit, and we got lost." What? I looked to Percy, who had that same glazed over look as before, blinking a bit. His story, it was horrible. This woman was never going to buy-

"Oh, how...Unfortunate for you wonderful little...Orphans, I simply must do what I can to help!" Nevermind, maybe the mist was helping to alter this woman's mind. Make her believe our bullcrap for a bit, we didn't need that much I supposed. Still, there was something in the pit of my stomach, tingling in a bad way, like it was warning me something wasn't right. My stomach growled back to argue that this was perfectly fine! Why try to argue with our good fortune?

"We don't need much, just some food and water would be enough until the...The ringmaster comes to find us. He will probably be waiting in a meeting place, just a little food, and we will be on our way." I looked to her, face completely covered in a veil, I supposed that probably wasn't the weirdest thing there were mortal religions that had people do that kind of thing, I think, Never really paid much attention to the pantheons of other gods. The politics between the Greek and Roman gods were messy enough! Why try to add even more complications with Egyptian and Norse deities and beyond? Yeah no.

"Oh, dearie me! I couldn't possibly hand you over with just that, Annabeth. No, you are getting the full treatment, just the best for such nice orphans." When did we tell her our names? I looked to Grover, who was getting really twitchy, looking around, peering at the various stone statues, and I just now noticed their grimaces, their faces caught in a moment of absolute terror forever. They were incredibly detailed, like, I could see the individual hairs on some of the closer statues.

There was something so very off about this whole scenario. Why wasn't it clicking with me? What was wrong!? I blinked a little bit, Though the woman started to speak more, a soothing, dulcet tone that made me want to sleep made me a bit tired... Or maybe that was just this day, I didn't know. "Oh, I insist on getting a glass of water Auntie Em. I don't like all of that sugar." Whatever was going on here, I wasn't about to go in helplessly.

With a nod, the woman guided us to a little picnic area in the back of the shop, tables set up as we sat down, and soon enough Auntie Em was bringing out what I could only assume to be the burgers that Percy was talking about, and I couldn't deny that they looked heavenly. A thick beef patty stacked with lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickles with some yellow things by the side...What were those?

"Burgers and Fries...Oh dear lord, it's been too long since I had a decent one of those." I could almost hear the drool dripping from his mouth while looking at the stuff, and it was placed in front of us. Grover, however, was nervously looking around. Picking at his fries while Percy dug into the burger ravenous, and I started to follow suit while Auntie Em stuck around, I looked around the area, trying to pick out what was off about this all.

"So, you run this place all by yourself? Must be hard." I picked up my burger and started to dig in, groaning a bit from the taste, that was good. Though as I ate, I felt my eyes start drooping a little bit, my hand curled around my water cup, slowly starting to use my powers on it. Heating it up, it wasn't something I had done in the whole two weeks at Camp half-blood, so never as a mortal, so I could feel it draining me of energy to do it—something to keep in mind as I continued warming up the water in hand. Small bubbles started to emerge from it as the heat increased.

"Oh, I wasn't always alone, I used to have two sisters here helping me. But they have long past, you know...Percy, you would make an excellent model for a statue, all of you would! Getting that intensity in your eyes, Annabeth, I'm sure you must have inherited that from your mother." I stiffened, how did she? Grover, he had warned us of a monster. There were statues all around, two sisters...Crap!

"Why don't I take a picture of you all? Save the image for some statues later on?" I looked over at Percy, who took a few seconds to respond. Like he was dazed or drunk like, I looked to our food. Well, that was an obvious trap looking back, pumping more and more heat into the water I gulped. Picking it up to take a sip, feel out the temperature, my tongue slightly stinging from the heat, which meant it was nice and boiling now. Auntie Em-no, Medusa coming up from behind me. I could hear the sound of low hissing, that must be her serpentine hair.

"Hm, I, why not? Its just one picture." I growled a bit before suddenly flinging my cup backwards, boiling water, hopefully hitting her right on her face and from the horrific screech she let out before stumbling back in pain. I could only assume I was dead on with my aim before slipping my cap on and diving towards Percy, knocking him off the bench while panting.

"You little Owl Pellet! How dare you strike at my face like that!" Behind each word was a hiss, a harsh, scathing and scaly, inhuman, and it made my skin crawl. How could I have thought it was soothing before?

"Annabeth. What was that!" He whisper-yelled at me, good. That meant he was a bit more awake now, and I stared into his eyes, they looked alert, zipping around everywhere again, not dulled and glazed like before. I guessed the rudeness of this all getting to him.

"Monster, Grover was right. She's a monster. Remember from our lessons? Statues, three sisters? Never showing her face?" I really hoped he would get it as I looked around for some sort of reflective surface as Grover...I cautiously looked around, staring at a fountain as I did so and saw him flying around with a huge stick, his eyes closed tightly as he divebombed Medusa, swatting her head now and then, good.

"Ah, Um! I...Something starting with an M?" He sounded a little more panicked than I would have liked, and I looked down to see in his eyes, there was a new emotion I hadn't seen in them before, his eyes were dilated, and I felt him shivering a bit underneath me, fear. He was afraid, why was he afraid? He had taken on worse when he was untrained!

"Yeah, so don't look up at her; we have to..Use a reflective surface." He nodded weakly as I rolled off of him, his eyes starting to drift around, and I groaned. Why was he so...Scared of this all? The first monster he fought was a Fury, and he didn't even know it was real at that time! I grunted, whatever.

"For what? Are you saying we should fight her? Annabeth, why don't we just book it for our lives? Not live as statues?" That didn't sound like Percy, not from what I had seen of him. He didn't run away, Not when the Minotaur attacked, not when the Fury attacked, not when presented with the quest, so why was he acting so scared of Medusa? He was a protector, so why didn't he want to... He said we, my lips pursed a bit in thought. I needed to motivate him somehow, and saw it, a statue of two lovers, frozen in terror, their bodies forever turned to stone.

"Annabeth? Where did you go? You didn't die while all invisible right?" He spoke, his voice slightly quivering. I gently grabbed his head and forced him to look at it, and a few other statues. A loud thwack echoed throughout the emporium as I did so, followed by some promises of dining on goat stew tonight by Medusa.

"Percy, if we don't fight and kill her, she will be killing more innocent people like that...We are the only ones who can stop her now." As I mentioned the innocents, I felt the shivering and quivering in his body stop, and he sat up, looking more resolute than before.

"Right...What do we need to do." There wasn't a shakiness in his voice anymore, and I couldn't help but smile. Alexios indeed. Looking around, I found what seemed to be a glass orb, giving off a reflection. It was distorted quite a bit, but it could be useful enough, and I passed it to him.

"Here, this will give you enough of a reflective surface to fight her...Just get in close as you can and well...You have that sword for a reason, right? Try to go for the neck." I went off to grab my cup, the thing vanishing from sight while I kept my eyes away from the sounds of Grover watching Medusa with a stick before he crashed into a giant grizzly bear statue, how did one of those? Whatever, I shook my head and kept my eyes on the boy while I backed up to a fountain, filling the water cup and started to boil it again. If my friend needed my back up, I would do all I could to help him.

"Oh, Perseus!" Medusa seemed to gag, saying the name as if it left a horrible taste in her mouth. "Don't you know being a statue would be much less painful than being a pawn of the gods! I would maintain you. Keep you here as the centerpiece of my garden! I will even keep your pet Satyr with you! The daughter of Athena, though, she will have to be destroyed, crumbled to dust for what her mother did do me!" As Percy approached, I saw him tense, was he really going to?

"No... He wouldn't." I lifted my hat and looked through the bubbling glass of water, the churning water in my hands, providing enough distortion to stop her petrifying gaze. I was able to see her body tensing up, getting ready to strike and pounce as Percy got ever closer.

"Yes, my boy, come into my arms! Let yourself be turned into a wonderful statue! I will maintain you at a new age!" She hissed under her breath, when Percy was finally in range she pounced on him, thank the gods for Percy's natural reflexes as he swung his sword in an upwards arc behind him slicing Medusa's head off right at the neck, her body turning to dust as the head dropped to the ground. Great! Now we had a weapon to use! Still.

"Percy! Don't look down, alright?" removing the glass of water and looking right up at Percy, he was looking really pale, a little sick as Medusa's blood must be dripping into his shoes...Yeah, I better fix that, and I dashed to get plenty of bags to wrap it up tightly. Enough that it has no danger for us. Percy seemed to calm down a little once it was away from him, and he looked at me, a little stunned.

"So...Your mom created her, right?" He looked to the bag cautiously, thinking to himself about something. I couldn't quite tell what, but I had a feeling it wasn't going to bode well for my mental health.

"Not in so few words. She caught her, and your dad canoodling in her temple. My wonderful mother decided to curse her by turning her into a monster. Effectively granting her immortality and the power to kill anyone she wanted with a mere look. Wonderful punishment, don't ya think?" I rolled my eyes at the thundering outside, I was respectful to most gods, sure. I would honor every one of them, except for my mother. She didn't deserve it after how she treated me all my life.

"Hm...Well then, I think I know what to do with this." Percy then walked off into the back, I shrugged and left him to do what he wanted and got Grover off the bear statue. Something was bothering me...

"Hey Grover, did you notice anything really odd about how the Furies attacked us? I didn't want to bring it up with Percy because well...I don't want to worry him if it doesn't mean anything." The goat-boy just groaned while he climbed down from the statute, nodding a bit, however, and sighing.

"Yeah, they talked about finding it, right? As if they were searching for a thing, an object. Not him, they weren't searching for him at all. What..What would they be looking for? The Master Bolt?" That sounded plausible but, why would we be headed to the Underworld if we already had the bolt?

"That...I don't know, but something about this isn't right. There is no reason for us to be going to the Underworld if we were not' searching for the bolt!" Grover shook his head somberly as Percy started to come out of the back, a box and some drachma in hand, where was Medusa's head?

"There is at least one reason Annabeth." He stared forward, looking at Percy as if that was supposed to answer the question on my mind. Anyways, when Percy came up with the box, a smirk on his lips. I knew that we were in for some trouble, then I looked on the box, and it was a delivery slip. A Hermes Express delivery slip, I had seen plenty over the years, but why would he be? Oh, no, that wasn't good.

"Are you seriously going to send that to my mother? Please don't tell me you are, because I don't want her to smite me." He shook his head with a small smirk on his face. I sighed in relief.

"I'm sending it to the Olympian Council, obviously." I choked on the air, what? That...That might not end us with a shocking death, depending on how it was seen. Hermes and Apollo would love the joke, and that could save us.

"They are going to think you are impertinent."

"I am impertinent." With that, he poured Dracma into the money pouch and sent off the package, hopefully not to our doom. Shaking my head with a sigh, we decided to trudge out of the emporium and sleep in the woods. Percy graciously Volunteering to take the first watch, and I nodded. Pretty wiped out from my first quest day, I lay my head against a "soft" tree and was out like a light.

The sound of thunder echoed through my head as I looked around, startled.. Where was I? What was I doing? Looking beside me, I saw a 12-year-old girl. She had dark black hair, a fierce look to her along with two startling electric blue eyes. Thalia, I knew this was Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus, in her hands she wielded a large shield, patterned with Medusa's head upon it, it was hard not to cringe away from Aegis, despite knowing it couldn't harm me as it was. In her hands, Thalia held a spear shaft, broken in half, so it was much shorter than it should have been. The celestial bronze tip glowing a bit in the low light.

"Come on! It's just over this hill! We are almost there!" Grover's panicked scream brought me out of my thoughts as I turned to look at the goat boy, his face stricken with fear, and I realized where we were, half-blood hill sans pine tree. Urging myself forward, I ran, noticing my hand clasped around a smaller one, looking down I saw him, I think it was Mr.M...Malcolm was his name. Behind us, along with thunder, I could hear the roars and screeching of a thousand different monsters, all after us, out for blood.

Suddenly, out from the sky, one of the furies swept down towards Malcolm, and I dived forward, covering his body with mine, and I let loose a scream of pain as the monster's claws dug into my skin! But he was safe, right? I looked down to see his frightened eyes, full of trust for me, he was waiting for me to say something, anything to assure him that it was fine.

"It's nothin buddy. Let's continue on. We have to be safe right, Thalia?" When I heard the voice come from my mouth, I gasped, it was Castellan's a little higher pitch but clearly his. What was this? Getting up I grabbed Malcolm's arm and pulled him up before looking back to Thalia, who was staring at my back in horror before that face of hers hardened before, a dozen Scythian Dracaenae throwing their spears towards us, the rain of weapons would have surely impaled me right through if Thalia didn't dive in front with her shield blocking it from the rest of us.

"Go! Luke, you have to go with Malcolm! Protect him!" I heard Thalia scream as she got back up and faced the oncoming horde brandishing her shield and broken spear proudly. I realized this was the night that Thalia died, Castellan was there, he saw her die...Was this why he hated me so much?

"No, Thalia! I'm not leaving you behind! We have been through too much!" I felt the desperation in my voice, I had been traveling with this girl for what felt like years at this point, standing back to back so often, protecting each other. Forging a bond that I knew would never be replaced. The girl simply turned to me and flashed a small smile before shaking her head. Tears clearly welling from her eyes.

"They're after me, Luke. Hopefully, they will leave you alone when I'm gone..." What? I heard Grover screaming to follow Malcolm tugging my arm, but I couldn't understand it. The world was becoming numb as I stared at Thalia.

"You can't guarantee that, though! YOu can't guarantee they will go away if you just die! Come on, Thalia!" She shook her head again. I looked into her eyes, she knew what I was saying, and she sure as hades wasn't going to go down without a fight and I looked down to Malcolm, and I nodded, I needed to take him to Camp as Thalia made her stand.

"Hey, you bastards! You wanna kill my friends? You want to get to Camp?! Well, you'll have to get through me first, so come on!" Thalia let out a battle cry as a tidal wave of monsters approached us, and she charged in, lightning splitting the sky and lighting everything up bright as day as she collided with the horde. I felt a scream rip from my chest.

"No!" The last thing I saw was Thalia getting slashed across the chest as her spear plunged into a fury with a crack of thunder, and suddenly I woke up. The world coming into view again, I was in the woods. Percy's snoring echoing through the clearing and in front of me was Grover, who had a bright pink poodle in his lap.


End file.
